VIRGINIA/NORTH CAROLINA
Richmond Times-Dispatch
By LAURA KEBEDE Richmond Times-Dispatch
Richmond-area board members of a North Carolina-based nonprofit that does work in Haiti celebrated a recent verdict which they said symbolically exonerated executive director Michael Geilenfeld from accusations of child molestation.
Paul Kendrick, a Maine activist for sexual abuse victims, was ordered to pay $14.5 million to Geilenfeld and the charity after leading a four-year email campaign to hundreds of donors perpetuating false accusations, The Associated Press reported.
The trial in Maine included testimony of Willie Dell, a former Richmond councilwoman and longtime friend of the nonprofit, on the executive director’s behalf, as well as seven Haitian men who claimed Geilenfeld sexually abused them while at St. Joseph’s Home for Boys in Port-au-Prince.
Three of the 11 board members for Hearts with Haiti live in the Richmond area, and several churches in the area frequently send volunteers to the organization’s Wings of Hope home for children with disabilities, St. Joseph’s Home for Boys and Trinity House for program graduates’ business startups.
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