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	A Responsibility to Haitian Victims CT Post August 8, 2011 http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/A-responsibility-to-Haitian-victims-1774945.php There is no true justice for the Haitian victims of a sex offender who operated under the guise of humanitarianism. But the move by a judge this week to dispense money seized from the perpetrator's account is at least a step in that direction. The case of Douglas Perlitz, lionized for his charitable activities while he was preying on the most vulnerable people he could find, has been sordid from the beginning. He pleaded guilty last year to charges of traveling overseas to engage in sex with a minor, and was sentenced to 19 years in prison. U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton this week ordered the dispensation of nearly $49,000 to 16 separate bank accounts for victims in Cap-Haitien, Haiti's second largest city. The plan is to wire three installments of $1,000 each over the next 14 months. Since Perlitz's school closed and his victims and others were forced back onto the streets, questions have been raised about the responsibility of Perlitz's supporters, including Fairfield University. Though they are not culpable for the offenses, many who provided the support that allowed Perlitz to commit crimes far from public scrutiny have an obligation to help the people he wronged. But it hasn't worked out that way. As the Connecticut Post's news story said, "Efforts to care for the 80 students were attempted by Kids Alive International, an Indiana-based charity with money from Fairfield University and the Order of Malta. However, after a few months problems arose and Kids Alive discontinued the program." That's not good enough. The judge's order to dispense the money from Perlitz's bank account is proper, and that kind of money could go a long way in Haiti. But the victims, and all those who lost a place they once considered safe when the school closed, deserve better. The responsibility of Perlitz's enablers to his victims is not over.
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