MAINE
Bangor Daily News
By Judy Harrison, BDN Staff
Posted Sept. 09, 2014
PORTLAND, Maine — A plaintiff in a slander suit pending in federal court has been taken into custody in Haiti after being accused of sexually abusing children, according to The Associated Press.
Michael Geilenfeld, executive director of St. Joseph Family of Haiti and a former Catholic brother, was detained Friday by police in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, his Maine attorney, Russell Pierce of Portland, confirmed Tuesday.
“He’s been detained without an arrest warrant,” Pierce said. “It’s arbitrary, illegal, and it was done without proof and no due process.”
Geilenfeld’s detention most likely will delay the trial in the defamation case scheduled to begin Oct. 7 in U.S. District Court in Portland.
Hearts With Haiti Inc., based in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Geilenfeld, 62, of Port-au-Prince in February sued Paul Kendrick, 64, of Freeport. The plaintiffs alleged that Kendrick’s false allegations that Geilenfeld has sexually abused children defamed Geilenfeld and the organization, causing fundraising events in the U.S. to be canceled.
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