CONNECTICUT
Minuteman News Center
By Meg Learson Grosso
mgrosso@fairfieldminuteman.com
Twitter: @mlearsongrosso
A $12 million settlement ended a lawsuit filed on behalf of 23 Haitians abused by a Fairfield University alumnus who founded and ran a school for destitute street children in Haiti. Attorney for the Haitians, Mitchell Garabedian, called it “a landmark case.”
The school, called Project Pierre Toussaint, was supported with donations often received through the help of the University’s charismatic chaplain, Fr. Paul Carrier. Over $2 million was raised for the project and Carrier held the checkbook and made frequent trips to Haiti.
The 1992 graduate, Douglas Perlitz, was the Fairfield University’s commencement speaker in 2002 and the University gave him an honorary degree.
Perlitz founded the school in 1997 and directed it until 2007, when the first tales of his sexually abusing boys came to the attention of those funding the school.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.