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  Founder of Haitian Boys School Pleads Guilty in Sex Case

By Hugh Collins
AOL News
August 18 2010

http://www.aolnews.com/crime/article/douglas-perlitz-founder-of-haitian-boys-school-pleads-guilty-in-sex-case/19599097

A Colorado man who founded a school for homeless boys in Haiti admitted in court today that he had sex with an underage student.

As part of a plea deal in U.S. District Court in New Haven, Conn., Douglas Perlitz, 40, pleaded guilty to one count of traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, while admitting that he had sex with one boy and opting not to challenge the government's assertion that he had sex with as many as eight, The Connecticut Post reported.

Douglas Perlitz, shown in 2004, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual contact.

Perlitz acknowledged traveling from JFK International Airport in 2006 so he could have sex with a minor, the newspaper said.

He will be sentenced Dec. 21 and faces as many as 30 years in prison and a fine of as much as $250,000.

Perlitz created Project Pierre Toussaint, which aimed to feed, clothe and school homeless boys in Cap-Haitien, the Caribbean country's second-largest city.

Prosecutors said Perlitz "abused his position of authority to entice and persuade the minors to comply with the sex acts by providing the promise of food and shelter and other benefits, including cash, cell phones, electronics, shoes, clothes and other items," according to CNN.

The guilty plea comes one month after the case was thrown out by a district judge. Judge Janet Bond Arterton dismissed a federal indictment against Perlitz in Connecticut, saying she could see no evidence that a crime had been committed in the state, a requirement of the statute under which Perlitz had been charged.

Eventually an arrest warrant was filed in federal court in New York, charging that Perlitz traveled from JFK to Haiti twice, with the purpose of engaging in sex with minors.

Perlitz began Project Pierre Toussaint 1997 and attracted million of dollars in donations from Connecticut Catholics, according to The Connecticut Post. A nonprofit organization, the Haiti Fund, was set up to oversee fundraising.

Things began to go sour when several students made allegations of sexual abuse to a Haitian journalist. An agent from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was dispatched to Haiti last month to arrange for alleged victims to travel to the U.S. to testify.

Perlitz was apprehended in September, more than eight months after the United Nations had sought a warrant for his arrest.

 
 

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