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	Judge Orders U.S. to Seize $42,000 from Perlitz By Michael P. Mayko Ct Post March 7, 2011 http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Judge-orders-U-S-to-seize-42-000-from-Perlitz-1045998.php NEW HAVEN -- A federal judge ordered the government to seize $42,000 from three of Douglas Perlitz's accounts and use the money to provide education, counseling and other services to the young boys he sexually abused in Haiti. But U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton stopped short Monday of deciding how the money will be dispersed to the victims. Instead, she is expected to conduct another hearing next month, which representatives from Kids Alive International, an Indiana-based charity that has operations in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, will attend. It is expected that representatives from Fairfield University and the Order of Malta, an international Roman Catholic charity, will also be asked to attend. Each group has pledged to contribute $120,000 into a program that will help the boys again thrown onto Cap-Haitien's dangerous streets by the closing of Perlitz's Project Pierre Toussaint. Project Pierre Toussaint was a three-phase program that provided food, clothing and remedial education to street boys. Those who showed promise would be allowed to attend a residential school. There also was a group home for high school-aged boys personally selected by Perlitz to receive extra tutoring. In December, Arterton sentenced Perlitz, 40, an honored Fairfield University graduate, to nearly 20 years in prison for sexually abusing at least eight, and possibly as many as 23, of his former male students. Late last year Fairfield University and the Order of Malta, two of Perlitz's biggest fundraisers, provided startup money to Kids Alive. Since December the charity has been providing food and clothing and making tuition payments for about 60 of the displaced boys. However, both Assistant U.S. Attorney Krishna Patel and Michael McCooey, chairman of the nearly defunct Haiti Fund that oversaw the funding of Perlitz's programs, advised the judge of threats to Kids Alive staffers made by some victims who believe they are due large monetary payouts. "Ten dollars becomes $10,000 becomes $10 million," McCooey said of the rumor mill in Haiti. "The boys think the court is sitting on millions and millions of dollars here." Patel suggested three methods of dispensing the restitution money. The first would be to split it and deliver it to the victims. A second would have the $42,000 delivered from Perlitz's two IRAs and a bank account to the clerk of the U.S. District Court who would parcel it out as expense payments to Kids Alive or a similar group. But because of the threats to staffers, McCooey advised the judge that Kids Alive "may very well say we tried but for the safety issues of the staff we just can't do it." McCooey said he spent two years and spoke to members of about 60 charities to try to help the displaced students, and only Kids Alive stepped forward. "They want to work with the kids, but misinformation has caused safety issues with the people who work for them," he said. A third option for dispensing the money would be to pool it and have the court appoint a monitor to pay expenses. However, the judge said she is "leery" of the court handling money coming from private institutions. Instead, she suggested the university and the Order of Malta look for a way on their own to dispense their money in Haiti.
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