MAINE
Portland Press Herald
BY SCOTT DOLAN STAFF WRITER
sdolan@pressherald.com | @scottddolan | 207-791-6304
The American founder of an orphanage in Haiti who sued a Freeport man over repeated accusations of child sexual abuse has been released from a Haitian jail after a judge there found the accusations unsubstantiated.
The release of Michael Geilenfeld will likely clear the way for his defamation claim against child abuse activist Paul Kendrick to go forward in U.S. District Court in Portland.
The trial in Maine had been scheduled for last fall when Geilenfeld was arrested at the St. Joseph’s Home for Boys in Port-au-Prince on Sept. 5. The arrest and questions about when he might be released caused the court in Maine to delay the trial.
A Haitian judge ordered 63-year-old Geilenfeld released Wednesday after a brief trial. His defense attorney in Haiti, Alain Lemithe, said Thursday that the accusations against Geilenfeld by five former orphanage residents were vague and unsubstantiated, the Associated Press reported.
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