MAINE
MPBN
By PATTY WIGHT
FREEPORT, Maine — The local man who has been ordered to pay more than $14 million in damages in a federal defamation case Thursday says he doesn’t regret his actions.
Paul Kendrick accused Haitian orphanage founder Michael Geilenfeld of sexually abusing boys in his care and sent hundreds of emails to third parties about the alleged abuse.
Some observers say they hope the outcome of the case will make people think twice before publicly speaking out against another person.
Kendrick began his email campaign against Geilenfeld back in 2011 after a Haitian journalist alerted him to the fact that Geilenfeld had been accused of sexual abuse multiple times over the course of 30 years.
Kendrick has been a vocal advocate for sexual abuse victims ever since the Catholic priest scandal in the late ’90s. And this new case caught his attention.
“I am a barking dog about child sexual abuse,” he says. “And every email I did — we did as advocates — was always with the hope of someone getting the message, some supporter would wake up for a moment and say, ‘What is it I may not know?'”
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