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The Douglas Perlitz Case - Page 2
(See also: Perlitz - page 1)

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Feds: Haiti abuse suspect sought boys while in US

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Ex-Fairfielder accused of abusing Haitian boys drops bond bid by Connecticut Post, Oct. 28, 2009
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PDF: Douglas Perlitz Indictment

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Letter to Judge (Sample Letters)
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Help Haiti's children - Demand that accused US pedophile, Doug Perlitz, not be set free on bond

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(In Kreyòl) Direct from Okap: Lakounewyork interview with Cyrus Sibert on Perlitz case
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Accused man to remain in custody

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Douglas Perlitz

Photo: Fairfield Mirror

Documents Say Abuse Suspect Tried To Buy Off Victims

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Perlitz detained without prejudice, defense plans to eventually ask for release By Chris Simmons, The Fairfield Mirror, October 28, 2009 (Pictures from the protest outside the courthouse)

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New motions filed in Perlitz case

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No More Secrecy
HLLN on Douglaz Perlitz's new motions asking for secrecy
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UN Peacekeepers and Humanitarian Aid Workers raping, molesting and abusing Haitian children

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Catholic priest John Duarte from Canada arrested for alleged child sex abuse in Haiti By Don Lajoie, The Windsor Star, October 21, 2009
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Perlitz Court Date Moved, Groups Raise Awareness of Perlitz, O’Brien Cases by The Fairfield Mirror,
Oct. 15 , 2009
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Letter-writing campaign aims to keep Perlitz jailed

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Jesuits, diocese asked to help sex abuse victims

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Sex scandal in Haiti hits U.N. mission

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Haiti's Holocaust and Middle Passage Continues

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- Ezili Dantò Note:
Help Haiti's children demand that accused pedophile, Doug Perlitz not be setfree on bond | White pedophiles in Haiti and in Africa - Video from Kenya,Haiti (Peacekeepers & Humanitarian Workers) and Senegal

- Haiti program founder's release may hinge on higher bond,
Connecticut Post, Oct. 9, 2009

- Who’s who in the Perlitz scandal
By Chris Simmons, September 23, 2009, The Mirror

- Man charged with Haiti sex abuse pleads not guilty By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN (AP), Oct. 8, 2009

- School Founder Arraigned In Abuse Charges, wfsb.com
Founder Of Haitian School Is Accused Of Sexually Abusing Nine Former Students

- Perlitz arraigned By Chris Simmons, The Mirror
October 10, 2009

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Dessalines Is Rising!!
Ayisyen: You Are Not Alone!


 


(In Kreyòl) Direct from Okap: Lakounewyork interview with Cyrus Sibert on Perlitz case

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Thank you: Haitian children had no public voice in this process until you came on the scene
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A Swiss accused pedophile was arrested in Haiti
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The 'Father Teresa' of Haiti – Armand Huard - convicted on sex abuse charges

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The Slavery in Haiti the Media Won't Expose

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Oil in Haiti - Economic Reasons for the UN/US occupation by Ezili Dantò

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Child Abuse/Molestation by white tourists in Kenya

108 sri lankan troops accused of sexual abuse in haiti UN

Paradise for Pedophiles - Senegal

Peacekeepers 'abusing children' in Haiti - 27 Sep 08

Video Report: Child Abuse by Humanitarian Workers

UN Peacekeepers and Humanitarian Aid Workers raping, molesting and abusing Haitian children

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To subscribe, write to erzilidanto@yahoo.com
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Douglas Perlitz indicted for abusing homeless boys in Haiti for a decade
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Page 1 and Page 2
zilibuttonCarnegie Hall
Video Clip
No other national
group in the world
sends more money
than Haitians living
in the Diaspora
Red Sea- audio

The Red Sea


Ezili Dantò's master Haitian dance class (Video clip)

zilibuttonEzili's Dantò's
Haitian & West African Dance Troop
Clip one - Clip two


So Much Like Here- Jazzoetry CD audio clip

Ezili Danto's

Witnessing
to Self
zilibutton
Update on
Site Soley

RBM Video Reel
Haitian
immigrants
Angry with
Boat sinking
A group of Haitian migrants arrive in a bus after being repatriated from the nearby Turks and Caicos Islands, in Cap-Haitien, northern Haiti, Thursday, May 10, 2007. They were part of the survivors of a sailing vessel crowded with Haitian migrants that overturned Friday, May 4 in moonlit waters a half-mile from shore in shark-infested waters. Haitian migrants claim a Turks and Caicos naval vessel rammed their crowded sailboat twice before it capsized. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Dessalines' Law
and Ideals

Breaking Sea Chains

Little Girl
in the Yellow
Sunday Dress
Anba Dlo, Nan Ginen
Ezili Danto's Art-With-The-Ancestors Workshops - See, Red, Black & Moonlight series or Haitian-West African

Clip one -Clip twoance performance
zilibutton In a series of articles written for the October 17, 2006 bicentennial commemoration of the life and works of Dessalines, I wrote for HLLN that: "Haiti's liberator and founding father, General Jean Jacques Dessalines, said, "I Want the Assets of the Country to be Equitably Divided" and for that he was assassinated by the Mullato sons of France. That was the first coup d'etat, the Haitian holocaust - organized exclusion of the masses, misery, poverty and the impunity of the economic elite - continues (with Feb. 29, 2004 marking the 33rd coup d'etat). Haiti's peoples continue to resist the return of despots, tyrants and enslavers who wage war on the poor majority and Black, contain-them-in poverty through neocolonialism' debts, "free trade" and foreign "investments." These neocolonial tyrants refuse to allow an equitable division of wealth, excluding the majority in Haiti from sharing in the country's wealth and assets." (See also, Kanga Mundele: Our mission to live free or die trying, Another Haitian Independence Day under occupation; The Legacy of Impunity of One Sector-Who killed Dessalines?; The Legacy of Impunity:The Neoconlonialist inciting political instability is the problem. Haiti is underdeveloped in crime, corruption, violence, compared to other nations, all, by Marguerite 'Ezili Dantò' Laurent
     
No other national group in the world sends more money than Haitians living in the Diaspora
 
 
 

 

Ezili Dantò Note: Going shopping in Haiti:
What exactly do some whites or modern missionaries go shopping in Haiti for: sex, self-esteem, adulation, to exploit cheap labor, plunder Haiti's natural resources, for self-improvement, recovery, to use Haiti as in excuse to raise funds for their salaries and living expenses, or as an easy way to gain international expert credentials in any field and move up the socio-economic ladder at home and/or for securing the good tropical lifestyle with mountain and oceanfront houses, the maids, gardeners and seafood they couldn't obtain as easily in their Euro/US countries where they are the majority, ordinary, can’t use the white privilege inheritance without some scrutiny and are not as exotic and special as in neocolonial devastated Haiti. It’s all hidden, of course, behind the mask of being good humanitarians and helping Haitians. [See Oil in Haiti - Economic Reasons for the UN/US occupation by Ezili Dantò of HLLN; Child Abuse/Molestation by white tourists in Kenya

108 sri lankan troops accused of sexual abuse in haiti UN

Paradise for Pedophiles - Senegal

Peacekeepers 'abusing children' in Haiti - 27 Sep 08

Video Report: Child Abuse by Humanitarian Workers

UN Peacekeepers and Humanitarian Aid Workers raping, molesting and abusing Haitian children

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Oil in Haiti - Economic Reasons for the UN/US occupation by Ezili Dantò

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Oil in Haiti, by Dr. Georges Michel , webzinemaker.com, March 27, 2004 [Please refer to the French Original]

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HLLN comment on new IMF figures indicating Haiti is no longer the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere
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Haiti's Riches: Interview with Ezili Dantò on Mining in Haiti

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Haiti Riches: CKUT Interview (34:03) with Ezili Dantò on Mining of Haiti Resources by Canadian Companies, by Chris Scott for CKUT Montreal, Haitian Perspective, April 29, 2009

Haiti Riches: Lakounewyork Interview with HLLN's Ezili Dantò (Kreyòl) on environmental degradation concerns of post-coup d'etat gold/copper mining in Haiti by foreign companies, May 6, 2009
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Brazil, U.S. to establish industrial plants in Haiti
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HLLN honors Father Gerard Jean Juste

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Feds: Haiti abuse suspect sought boys while in US

Feds: Haiti abuse suspect sought boys while in US
By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN (AP) – Oct. 28, 2009

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Federal prosecutors say a Colorado man charged with sexually abusing nine boys at a school he founded in Haiti was using his computer while in the United States to search for boys.

Authorities made the accusations in court papers as they argued that 39-year-old Douglas Perlitz should not be released from prison while he awaits trial. A judge kept him detained after his attorney said at a hearing Wednesday that he needed more time to come up with a large bond package.

Authorities say Perlitz enticed children at the Project Pierre Toussaint school in Cap-Haitien into sex acts by promising them food, shelter, cash, cell phones, electronics and shoes. Perlitz has pleaded not guilty. His attorney says he did nothing illegal in the U.S.

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Accused man to remain in custody, The New Haven Register, By Randall Beach, Register Staff, Oct. 29, 2009

NEW HAVEN — Attorneys for a former state resident accused of sexually abusing nine boys in Haiti were unable to win his release from custody Wednesday, as federal prosecutors maintained he would be “a danger to the community.”

Douglas Perlitz, 39, formerly of Fairfield, is awaiting trial on allegations he molested boys at the school he founded in Cap-Haitien.

Prosecutors Tuesday filed a supplemental memorandum supporting their motion to keep Perlitz incarcerated, charging he used his computer while in the U.S. to search for boys.

U.S. Magistrate Joan Margolis made no rulings Wednesday, agreeing to a request by Perlitz’ attorney, William Dow III, for a continuance until a more complete bond package can be assembled. The next court date is Dec. 2.

Perlitz has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges. After court adjourned Wednesday, Dow said the computer-use allegations are unfounded.

In earlier documents, prosecutors charged Perlitz enticed children at his Project Pierre Toussaint School into sex acts by promising them food, shelter, cash, cell phones, electronics and shoes.
Court filings say Perlitz admitted “some boundaries were crossed” when boys stayed overnight in his room, but denied having had sexual contact with them.

While arguing for a bond agreement and electronic monitoring, Dow said at an earlier hearing, “There’s no evidence, no claim that anyone in the United States has been endangered by my client. He is a man not only with a clean record, but an admirable record, who enjoys the support of many, many people in the face of these allegations.”

But in their memorandum this week, U.S. Attorney Nora Dannehy and Assistant U.S. Attorney Krishna Patel said a preliminary analysis indicated user “Douglas Christian” (Perlitz’ first and middle names) used his Colorado computer from last June until his September arrest conducting searches for “gay black boys.”

Prosecutors also cited initial findings indicating Perlitz accessed forum pages where people could arrange meetings and identify “cruising places.”

The prosecutors’ memorandum further alleged Perlitz wired money to individuals in Haiti “which the government believes was done to buy the silence of additional children.”
Dow said those charges are “absolutely not true.”

Prosecutors say the nine children are willing to come to the U.S. to testify against Perlitz, and most of them have provided videotaped statements.

Prosecutors also asserted allegations of abuse were corroborated by Haitian police and a separate agency hired by The Haiti Fund Inc.

Speaking outside the courtroom, Dow said he and Grudberg need more time to comply with “an extraordinary bond package requirement.”

Randall Beach can be reached at rbeach@nhregister.com or 789-5766.

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Ex-Fairfielder accused of abusing
Haitian boys drops bond bid

Defense vows to submit when the time is right
By Michael P. Mayko, Connecticut Post, Oct. 28, 2009

NEW HAVEN --The hearing was expected to take hours, but lasted only minutes.
Rather than press their request to have Douglas Perlitz released on $5 million bond and into the custody of a dozen Fairfield residents, his lawyers withdrew their bid Wednesday.

Douglas Pelitz

The defense team vowed, however, to renew theapplication on behalf of the former Fairfield resident charged with sexually abusing street orphans at a Haitian charity he established to help them.

Meanwhile, a small busload of 15 Haitians, who made the trip from New York, saw the action as the first of what they hope will be a string of court victories in the prosecution of Perlitz, a Fairfield University graduate honored by his alma mater in 2002 for working with young Haitian street boys through his charity, Project Pierre Toussaint. He was indicted on federal charges in September.

"We are the voices of those children," said Gina Magloiri, a Haitian living in New York. "We will continue to keep coming back."

"The next time there won't be enough space in the courtroom to hold us," vowed Surprise Dessalines, another Haitian living in New York.

The Haitians, many of whom carried signs reading, "No Bail for Pedophile" and "Justice for Haitian Children," were joined by Paul Kendrick, of Maine, and Paul Kellen, of Massachusetts, members of the group, Voice of the Faithful, which advocates on behalf of people sexually abused by Catholic clergy.

During the past two weeks, the VOF and the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network, led by Marguerite Laurent and Henri Alexandre, mounted a letter-writing campaign urging U.S. Magistrate Judge Joan G. Margolis to keep Perlitz behind bars until his trial on charges of traveling to Haiti to engage in sexual activity with young boys.

Wednesday's proceedings came hours after Assistant U.S. Attorney Krishna Patel filed a document alleging that a forensic review of a laptop computer seized from Perlitz in Colorado indicates he trolled Web sites using search words like "gay black boys," "Colorado Haitians" and "Africa boys" until the day before his Sept. 16 arrest. Additionally, an agent from Immigration and Customs Enforcement allegedly found more than 100 images, many of which depicted "younger-looking black males engaged in graphic homosexual activity," according to the prosecutor.

Outside the courtroom, lawyer William F. Dow III, who, with David Grudberg, represents Perlitz, said the bond request they filed was "only an outline" that needed additional work done "on the dynamics." In court papers, the defense lawyers asked Margolis to keep private the names of people willing to post between $100,000 and $325,000, as well as those offering to watch Perlitz if he is released on bond while awaiting trial.

As to the latest allegations, Dow said, "There is nothing to substantiate that he was trolling for companionship."

Meanwhile, Cyrus Sibert, a radio and print journalist in Haiti who first reported the allegations in 2007 and has been corresponding with the Connecticut Post by e-mail, said he believes there are more than 20 victims abused by Perlitz as opposed to the nine noted in the federal indictment.

"They are living in squalid conditions," said Sibert, a member of five journalistic organizations including the Society of Professional Journalists. "They are facing pressure from people who used to get handouts from the project activities," he said.

He was referring to Project Pierre Toussaint, which Perlitz founded and built from a street clinic to a school and residential facility, which was shut down last summer when funding stopped coming from the Order of Malta and the Haiti Fund, a nonprofit Fairfield County organization. Sources said the Project Pierre Toussaint pumped about $300,000 annually into the Haitian economy.

Sibert said many of the victims fear being killed "by people they don't know, people in the society and authorities who used to profit from Doug Perlitz."


Last week he said a delegation from the United Nations' Human Rights Section met with the victims and offered their assistance.

Laurent, who heads the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network, said there have been many issues with UN peace-keeping groups in Haiti, including one from Sri Lanka that created a brothel with young Haitian children.

Last week, John Duarte, a former Catholic priest in Canada, was charged with sexually abusing boys in Haiti over a 10-year period.

Dow said Perlitz denies all the allegation and branded Sibert "a shock jock ... whose familiarity with veracity is infrequent and insubstantial."

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Ex-Windsor priest John Duarte arrested for alleged child sex abuse in Haiti By Don Lajoie, The Windsor Star, October 21, 2009

John Duarte/CNS

Joao Jose Correira Duarte, a former Windsor priest, is now facing extradition to Canada, where he's expected to face 12 charges in the sexual abuse of Haitian youths, age 12 to 17, the Immigration Office and National Drug Control Directorate said in a statement sent to Canwest News Service.

Photograph by: Handout, CNS

A former local priest, who founded a mission to aid the poor in Haiti, has been arrested in the Dominican Republic and is awaiting extradition to Canada to face charges of sexually abusing teenage Haitian boys.

John Duarte, 43, former leader of the Windsor-based Hearts Together For Haiti, was picked up Tuesday in the city of Puerto Plata by Dominican authorities on a warrant issued in Canada, according to a statement released by the Dominican Immigration Office and National Drug Control Directorate.

It is alleged Duarte had been engaging in sexual relations with a group of adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 in Port-au-Prince.

He faces 12 charges of sexual abuse.

Duarte is accused of seeking sexual encounters with the youths in the city’s hotel rooms in exchange for favours, such as buying them clothes or paying for better lodging for the victims’ families in the sprawling slums of the Haitian capital.

The statement said Duarte is being held in a Dominican prison where he will await the trip back to Canada.

Duarte had worked as a missionary off and on in Haiti since the 1990s, while also serving as a parish priest in Windsor and Essex County — most recently at Our Lady of Perpetual Help and previously at St. Michael’s Church in Leamington.

It took the Dominican authorities four weeks to apprehend Duarte after receiving a diplomatic note from the Canadian Embassy Sept. 28. The arrest warrant was signed by a Windsor justice of the peace. The embassy was informed of the arrest Wednesday.

Duarte had been under investigation by the RCMP and the OPP, with the support of the Haitian National Police after officials from Hearts Together for Haiti received complaints in June 2006 from residents in the seaside village of Labadie, on Haiti’s northern coast near the city of Cap Haitian.

Duarte had been living in the impoverished village since October 2003, where he had been directing the affairs of the charitable group, which had built and was operating two schools, a health clinic and running a child and family sponsorship program.

The HTFH leaders received information that parents were concerned Duarte was seducing adolescents in the community.

When reached for comment Wednesday, HTFH officials said they were surprised only by the timing of the arrest.

“We were just waiting for the news,” said Marcie Spratt, who, along with her husband Keith, had helped run the sponsorship program in Labadie for children and the sick and elderly. “Now it’s in the the hands of the police.”

Keith Spratt said the aid organization took action immediately after learning of the situation.
He said HTFH officials flew to Haiti and confronted Duarte about the allegations. Duarte was removed as director. Spratt said the information was relayed to police in Canada and, in October 2007, OPP officers asked if the organization would co-operate in an investigation.

The HTFH officials, accompanied by RCMP and OPP detectives, returned to Haiti in December of that year. It is not known whether charges are pending in regards to the Labadie investigation.
Duarte, his close-cropped hair dyed a brassy blonde at one time and sporting tattoos and a nipple ring, worked tirelessly for the poor in Haiti, according to charity workers.

Supporters from HTFH, while accompanying him on his frequent trips to the country, said they witnessed the priest going into the infamous, gang infested Cite Soleil slums of Port-au-Prince where he would care for the deathly sick in area clinics.

While helping build the HTFH school in Labadie, Duarte performed minor surgery by flashlight on a villager who had been hurt on the job site when a load of cinder blocks fell on his foot. During the February 2004 coup, Duarte sheltered officials of the besieged government of former president Jean Bertrand Aristide until they could be airlifted to safety.

The same spring, well after dark and still arranging sponsorship programs, the priest’s work was interrupted when Labadie villagers came to tell him that a child had been hurt in a fire. He helped take the badly burned infant across the mountains to hospital in Cap Haitian. The child died overnight and Duarte brought the tiny girl home, prepared the body for burial and presided over the funeral that afternoon.

He was a spokesman on Haitian development issues for media, including CNN and some local supporters campaigned to have him recommended for the Order of Canada.

“I’m not going to change history,” said Steve McDougall, who sits on the board of HTFH.

“I was a dear and good friend of his. I had tremendous respect for him and his work. He was like a young brother to me.… But we had a serious allegation that we couldn’t ignore. And, friend or no friend, we had to look into it, for the kids. You have to look after the kids.”

Keith Spratt, also a board member, said the ordeal has taken a toll on his family and the organization.

“We see the posters in the church about abuse and they say it’s not only your duty it’s your moral and legal obligation to report it,” he said. “We had no choice.”

His wife said she realizes the grief that the news will cause the church, yet again. “It’s making me sick,” she said. “I don’t want any more pain for the Catholic church. I know it’s going to hurt. But the church never tried to hide this. We talked to five different priests and they all said, in plain English, go to the police.”

With files from Jorge Barrera

Canwest News Service
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service

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Perlitz detained without prejudice, defense plans to eventually ask for release
By Chris Simmons, The Fairfield Mirror, October 28, 2009
(Pictures from the protest outside the courthouse)

After a flurry of motions the day before, the hearing on the detainment of Doug Perlitz ‘92 was largely anticlimactic.

On a rainy Wednesday morning, Perlitz was led into the Court Room 3 at the Richard C. Lee U.S. Court House in New Haven with a denim jacket covering his khaki prison jumpsuit, with his family sitting behind him for support. Meanwhile, a group of Haitian supporters sat across the court room, stating they were providing a voice for the children.

Douglas Perlitz

Photo: Fairfield Mirror

William F. Dow III, Perlitz’s lead lawyer, opened by saying that the federal Magistrate Judge Joan G. Margolis had set forth conditions for release, but the defense had not yet met the requirements. Dow asked for the right to continue the matter at a later date if the defense should choose to. The government’s petition for detainment was granted without prejudice.

“It’s an extraordinary bond requirement,” said Dow after the hearing. “It involves a bunch of moving parts, like playing three-level chess.”

He said that the bond issues were largely mechanical and that the defense plans to eventually contest the detention once it has better met the bail requirements. During the initial portion of the hearing, before the 20 day recess and continuation, the judge seemed to indicate that she would accept a bond in the $4-5 million range along with increased third-party custodians.

This hearing comes on the heels of two motions filed yesterday, one by Dow outlining a new proposed package for release, which included 19 other people to raise bail money along with 12 more third-party back-up custodians. Dow said that motion was just an outline of a package and that it is a”dynamic one, not a static one, pieces have to be filled in.”

That motion was followed by a rebuttal by the government. The government also attached “Exhibit A,” which stated that after a very preliminary investigation by an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agent, Perlitz’s computer was found to contain over 100 images of nude black males performing sex acts along with numerous URLs to various sex Websites.

“We haven’t seen any information about what they are alleging with the computer,” said Dow. “There is nothing illegal about any of the conduct the government described.”

He added that these type of allegations are intended to serve as “lightening rods” to raise support for the prosecutor’s case in the public eye.

But in the end the allegations may have accomplished that goal, at least according to those who attended to speak against Perlitz’s potential release. The new information may have helped turn the tide against releasing Perlitz, according to Henri Alexander, a lawyer and member of the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network (HLLN). He said that he thought that some people who may have been willing to support Perlitz now do not want their names associated with the case.

Alexander, along with Ezili Danto, the founder of the HLLN, attended the hearing along with 10 Haitians to give the people of Haiti a voice after the previous hearing which was well-attended by Perlitz supports, a fact pointed out several times by Dow during that portion of the hearing.

“We’re not too, too informed about the case,” said Odelin Francois, the president of Global Network for Progress, which strives to provide impoverished children an education. “But from what we’ve heard, we feel he is praying on poor black kids. He gives them bread and education so he can use them. Black kids are not for sale and not for abuse. We can provide for ourselves, we don’t need these people.”

Gina Magloirie, another Haitian who came up from New York City to support the motion to detain Perlitz, said that the next time, even more Haitians would come. She compared it to the time when Haitians were blamed for AIDS and they “shut down New York City and marched across the bridge. We made history and we will do it again.”


She was referring to April 1990 when more than 50,000 people crossed the Brooklyn Bridge, poured in lower Manhattan and surrounded City Hall to protest a Food and Drug Administration ban on blood donations from Haitians as a precaution against spreading AIDS.

Magloirie said that she and her fellow Haitians will come to the court house “until the judge is tired of seeing our faces. We will be here in snow, rain, we don’t care.”


After the hearing, supporters of detaining Perlitz stood outside holding signs with phrases such as, “Justice for the Haitian Children,”No Bail for Pedophile,” and “Doug Perlitz Pedophile.”

Paul Kendrick ‘72, who has spoken out against releasing Perlitz on bail, also attended the hearing, making the trip from Maine. Kendrick plans to meet with Fairfield University administrators in early November and call on them to raise money for the school in Haiti that Perlitz founded. It is currently being supported by remaining members of the Haiti Fund, including current chairman Michael McCooey, who split away when allegations were made against Perlitz. They did not sign a letter, as some board member did, defending Perlitz.

Kendrick again emphasized that the University should try to help the suffering Haitian children, rather than try and distance themselves from the case. The Project Pierre Toussaint school is currently being watched by guards paid for by McCooey, according to Kendrick, because it is a target for looting and vandalism.

Pictures from the protest outside the courthouse

Similar Posts:

New motions filed in Perlitz case

Perlitz Court Date Moved, Groups Raise Awareness of Perlitz, O’Brien Cases

Perlitz arraigned

Government files pretrial motion to detain Perlitz

Fairfield alum indicted for sexual abuse in Haiti

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New motions filed in Perlitz case
By Tom O'Leary, The Fairfield Mirror, October 27, 2009

Two motions were filed on Tuesday in the Douglas Perlitz ‘92 case in preparation for his detention hearing on Wednesday Oct. 28.

Memorandum in Further Support of Release on Bond

The first motion, filed by Perlitz’s lead attorney, William F. Dow III, submits a revised proposal for Perlitz’s release. The initial proposal included a bond secured by four parcels of real estate owned by Perlitz’s mother, brother and step-father, appraised at a value between $1.9 and $2.3 million.

In the memorandum filed Oct. 27, Dow says: “Defendant has secured commitments from approximately 19 additional individuals or couples … Most of these commitments are for $100,000; some are considerably higher, as high as $325,000. The total of the commitments from Connecticut residents is approximately $1.1 million; the total of the commitments from out-of-state residents is approximately $1.8 million.”

Dow also says they are prepared to submit paperwork “demonstrating that these individuals are people of fine standing within the community, as well as of sufficient financial means that their commitments are meaningful.” However, he asks the court to keep the information private.

At the first hearing, Anthony and Laura Sirianni volunteered to become third-party custodians for Perlitz if he were to be released. Dow now proposes a group of “back-up” custodians who would be called upon if the Siriannis had to leave their home. A member of the local bar has also volunteered to serve as the coordinator for this group.

Dow concludes by writing, “Defendant submits that this custodial monitoring arrangement, coupled with the other monitoring – both electronic and GPS-based – to be ordered by the Court will provide sufficient assurance that Mr. Perlitz will not flee if released, or otherwise pose any threat to any member of the community.”

Government’s Supplement Memorandum in Support of Motion to Detain

The government responded with a motion of its own to refute the notion that Perlitz should be released.

“In short, Douglas Perlitz should remain detained because there are simply no set of conditions that can ensure that he will not be a danger to the community or that he will not flee prior to the trial,” the memorandum submitted by United States Attorney Nora. R. Dannehy and by Assistant United States Attorney Krishna R. Patel.

The government refuted the additional money raised by Perlitz because they would be executing a non-surety bond, which allows a signature alone to guarantee the amount. The government wants each individual to post collateral so that the government is able to place liens on the property or money.

The government also objected to the use of 12 back-up custodians to the Siriannis. The government’s memorandum said, “The government understood that the Court was requesting additional guardians to supplement – not act as back-up guardians – for the Sirrianis [sic].” The government would also like to see the Siriannis post some collateral so they have incentive to monitor Perlitz. It also argued that the use of 12 rotating back-ups was “absurd.”

The memorandum goes on to says: “The Government has provided the Court with information that the defendant was: (a) telephonically communicating with individuals in Haiti up until his arrest; (b) that he was wiring money to individuals in Haiti which the Government believes was done to buy the silence of additional children; and (c) that defendant instructed other individuals here in the United States to assist by taking actions to frustrate the Haiti Fund’s investigation of Perlitz’s conduct.”

The government also argues that there has never been a case involving federal charges of hands-on abuse where the defendant was released in this District.

The government also provided additional information for the Court to consider in making the decision whether or not to release Perlitz. Attached to it memorandum was “Exhibit A,” which features very preliminary findings by an ICE forensic examiner relating to a computer found from Perlitz at the time of his arrest in Colorado.

Perlitz visited websites such as:
www.boyreview.com
www.dominicanboys.com
www.afriboyz.com
www.blackgayporn.net
www.blackinterracialgay.com
www.islandboys.com
www.blacksonboys.com
www.extreme-gayboys.com
www.cocktailboyz.com
www.boysfirstime.com
EXTREME-GAYBOYS.COM
www.photosgayboys.com/teenboys
www.spankteenboys.com
forum.afriboyz.com
www.youngtwinkboys.net
www.allboysgay.com
www.adventuresofgayboys.com
www.nudeafricanboys.com

Also, the document stated, “Numerous (over 100+) image files depicting nude black males were recovered. Many of these files depicted younger-looking black males engaged in graphic homosexual activity (e.g. oral and anal sex.)”

Check back tomorrow for updated coverage after the hearing in New Haven, CT at 11 a.m.

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Perlitz Court Date Moved, Groups Raise Awareness of Perlitz, O’Brien Cases
By Tom Cleary, The Fairfield Mirror, October 15, 2009

Sexual assault awareness groups and Haitian activists have stepped up the pressure on U.S. Magistrate Judge Joan G. Margolis, encouraging her to not release Doug Perlitz ‘92 when he goes before her again in New Haven on Oct. 28.


SNAP, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, held a sidewalk press conference outside of the gates of Fairfield University on Thursday afternoon, while Haitian activist Ezili Danto/Marguerite Laurent, has started a letter-writing campaign, encouraging letters to be sent to Margolis.

Meanwhile. the hearing date was moved from Tuesday Oct. 19 to Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 11 a.m., in New Haven at the Richard C. Lee United States Court House. While no reason for the shift was provided by Thomas Carson, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Ezili Danto said in an email she is worried the move may deter those planning to attend from coming on Oct. 28.

“This is a sign of the intense efforts on the parts of Perlitz’ people to get him off on bond. They know we had intended to be in court on the 19th in full force,” Ezili Danto said in her email.

“Please do not let this postponement stop our efforts to give voice to the voiceless children of Haiti affected by the Doug Perlitz case. Let’s redouble our efforts, keep sending letters to the judge.”

Perlitz’s attorney, William F. Dow III, said to the Connecticut Post, that he is worried the actions of Ezili Danto and Paul Kendrick ‘72, another activist, will taint the jury pool and make it difficult for people to assume Perlitz’s innocence.

“When people bring out the pitchforks and the torches, they infect everybody and cripple the presumption of innocence,” Dow said to the Post.

But Kendrick replied in the same article, ““there is nothing to stop him from using prepaid phone cards or prepaid cell phones to continue his threats and intimidation of his victims in Haiti.”
SNAP Holds Sidewalk Press Conference Outside University Gates

(Photo: Fr. Eugene O'Brien)

On Thursday at 1 p.m. two members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, spoke to reporters outside of the gates of Fairfield University on North Benson Rd. to raise awareness about the sexual abuse scandals involving both Perlitz and former Fairfield Prep principal, Fr. Eugene O’Brien.

Perlitz is charged with 10 counts related to allegations that he abused boys at Project Pierre Toussaint, a school he founded in Haiti. O’Brien worked at Fairfield Prep from 1983 to 1985 and he allegedly abused a teenaged student in the 1970s while working at Fordham Prep in the Bronx. A settlement of $25,000 was reached between the Jesuits and his accuser, according to a New York Times article.

“We want to call on the Jesuits to use their resources to help seek out other victims,” said Jim Hackett, an abuse survivor and member of SNAP. “We hope they work with the prosecutors to ensure he [Perlitz] is tried. We do not want them to partake in the tactics the Catholic church has used in the past – duck and dodge and intimidate those who bring charges.”

Hackett spoke along with Gail Howard, a fellow member of the group and survivor.

“We want to know when did the support for Perlitz originate, how was it handled, when did [the University] learn what was going on and what did they do when they learned of it,” said Howard. “We want them to actively make sure he is never back on the streets.”

Hackett and Howard also requested that the University send a letter to Margolis, asking her not to release Perlitz on bond.

SNAP hopes that as more attention is brought to cases like the Perlitz and O’Brien cases, other victims will come out with their stories. Hackett and Howard said that they expect that there are more victims, especially of O’Brien, who are afraid to speak up.

“Everytime a story comes out, two or three or more [victims] come forward. I was molested in 1976 in Hamden and kept it between myself and my parents for 25 years,” Hackett said.

In 2002 a case was brought against Hackett’s abuser and he said that gave him the courage to come forward with his story.

“I learned that I was not the only one,” Hackett added.

Haitian attorney, activist starts letter-writing campaign to keep Perlitz behind bars

(Photo - Ezili Danto)

Ezili Danto, the President of the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network, wrote an article on Salon.com encouraging supporters of Haitian children to send letters to Margolis encouraging her to keep Perlitz in prison throughout his trial.

“The Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network’s started the letter writing campaign to give voice to the voiceless children victims without any access to the judge, to newspaper editors, to plane tickets or any other resources whereby they can tell their side in this case,” Ezili Danto said in an email to The Mirror. ”

In contrast Mr. Perlitz may be able to raise $5 million to apparently put up on bond.”

Ezili Danto said that her organization has known about the case since 2005, but let it play out in the correct channels. When she learned that the judge was even considering releasing Perlitz, she decided it was time to speak out.

“It is not the norm to release accused pedophiles back into the community. That the access to funds, the Western narrative and privilege, could further endanger the lives of these children is horrifying, as it was privilege and access that seems to have allowed this crime of opportunity in the first place – that is, if the allegation are prove,” said Ezili Danto. “Perlitz’s resources ought not to be used against these children again.”

Ezili Danto has written frequently on sexual tourism involving Americans in Haiti and believes that members of the Fairfield community stumbled into a bigger problem than they knew, providing money thinking it was helping Haitian children, while really hurting them.

“I am sad that good people with good intentions are brought into such a hellish case,” Ezili Danto said. “But sexual tourism is not new. The use of Haiti’s pain and negative neocolonial image to further exploit Haitians is not new. It has been going on in Haiti and Africa since the days of the old missionaries.”

Activist Paul Kendrick ‘72, another activist for sexual abuse victims has also encouraged letters be sent to Margolis, and sent a letter of his own. The lengthy letter breaks down the reasons for why Perlitz should not be released. He also sent a letter to Dow, Perlitz’s attorney, asking him to “act as a responsible and accountable member of the community by using your own common sense to help protect children from being sexually abused.”

He also stated that if Perlitz is released into the Fairfield community, he and other activists will warn the neighbors that Perlitz is living near them.

“If you and Perlitz get your way, Mr. Dow, we will distribute warning leaflets to neighbors about Perlitz’s background and dangerous presence in the Fairfield community,” Kendrick wrote in the conclusion of his letter. “After all, children depend upon the adults in their lives to protect them.”

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Thank you: Haitian children had no public voice in this process until you came on the scene
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See also, Letter-writing campaign aims to keep Perlitz jailed, and Jesuits, diocese asked to help sex abuse victims, and Fr. Paul Carrier, S.J. Near The End Of The Line, Posted by Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit blog

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Documents Say Abuse Suspect Tried To Buy Off Victims
By EDMUND H. MAHONY, Hartford Courant, October 29, 2009

While awaiting his likely arrest, a Connecticut man charged with sexually assaulting boys at the internationally recognized charity he founded for orphans in Haiti tried to buy off his victims and otherwise thwart an investigation of his conduct, federal authorities say.

The new allegations about the conduct of Douglas Perlitz, founder and director of Project Pierre Toussaint in Haiti's north coast city of Cap-Haitien, are contained in documents federal prosecutors filed in court in an effort to keep Perlitz in prison while he awaits trial.

Even after allegations of his sexual misconduct became public in 2007, investigators and prosecutors said in the documents, Perlitz continued to travel to Haiti, where he spent nights with boys. They said he spoke by telephone with people in Haiti "up until his arrest," and that he "was wiring money to individuals in Haiti, which the government believes was done to buy the silence of additional children."

More recently, from June until his arrest in September, authorities said in one of the documents that computer records show that Perlitz was using a laptop computer to view sexually oriented Internet sites featuring nude, black boys.

"Many of these files also depicted younger-looking black males engaged in graphic homosexual activity," said a preliminary, written analysis of Perlitz's computer by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Wednesday, hours after federal prosecutors and investigators for Homeland Security filed the new information in U.S. District Court in New Haven, Perlitz, through his lawyer, temporarily dropped his efforts to win release from prison on bail while he awaits trial on sexual assault charges.

Perlitz, 39, who lived in Fairfield and Haiti before briefly moving to suburban Denver earlier this year, was indicted Sept. 15 on seven counts of traveling to Haiti to engage in sexual conduct and three counts of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in Haiti. Prosecutors have charged him with abusing nine boys in Haiti over a period of 10 years, but said in legal filings that it is likely "many more" more victimized.

Perlitz has pleaded not guilty. On Wednesday, his lawyer, Willie Dow III, either denied or tried to dispute the new information filed by prosecutors. Dow said Perlitz did not try to buy the silence of victims. He said it would not be unusual for Perlitz to speak by telephone with Haitians who benefited from his charity. And Dow said the computer allegations are unsubstantiated.

Dow said Perlitz will return to court soon to seek pretrial release, but needs more time to organize real estate needed to secure the $4 million to $5 million bail that U.S. Magistrate Judge Joan G. Margolis has said she will require. Dow also is expected to develop a plan to provide Perlitz with around-the-clock supervision if he is released.

Until his indictment, Perlitz, a 1992 graduate of Fairfield University, was something of a celebrity in Haiti, the hemisphere's poorest country. He founded Project Pierre Toussaint in 1997 and eventually opened three residences in Cap-Haitien, two for homeless Haitian boys and a third for U.S. volunteers.

The charity offered boys as young as 6 years old homes, food, clothing, shoes, water to bathe in, sporting activities and basic education. The indictment against Perlitz said he threatened to return children to the streets if they did not comply with his sexual demands.

The project was financed over the past decade through the Haiti Fund Inc., a registered Connecticut charity. The fund directors were appointed by the Rev. Paul Carrier, former director of campus ministries at Fairfield University. Carrier is a close friend of Perlitz's and the two frequently visited in Haiti.

A Fairfield University spokesman said the school has no official tie to the Perlitz charity, but alumni have said graduates and staff have contributed generously. The fund raised more than $2 million from 1997 to 2008. Donations all but disappeared after abuse allegations became public and the project closed in 2008, leaving hundreds of children homeless again.

Federal prosecutors have suggested in their court filings that there may have been irregularities in the way the donations were handled. They said Perlitz had exclusive control of the money and "there does not appear to be an accurate accounting of what happened to these monies."

Although Perlitz claimed to have no personal wealth, prosecutors have said that he traveled extensively to Haiti, Thailand, Bhutan, Ecuador, Myanmar, Belize, Chile and the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti. Prosecutors said that, after his arrest, Perlitz told investigators that he traveled to the Dominican Republic as recently as March to see "his kids."

Copyright © 2009, The Hartford Courant

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(In Kreyòl) Direct from Okap: Lakounewyork interview with Cyrus Sibert on Perlitz case

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Letter-writing campaign aims to keep Perlitz jailed
By Michael P. Mayko, Connecticut Post, Oct. 14, 2009

While Fairfield County residents try to raise money for the nearly $5 million bond imposed on Douglas Perlitz following his arrest last month for allegedly molesting boys at his Haitian charity, a group of Haitian lawyers and an advocate for sexual assault victims have launched a letter-writing campaign to keep him behind bars.

Perlitz, a Fairfield University graduate presented with an honorary degree in 2002 by the school for establishing Project Pierre Toussaint, a program to house, feed and school homeless Haitian boys, was arrested on federal charges Sept. 16 alleging that he sexually abused at least nine of the children during the past decade. He has denied the charges in court and to a federal agent.

On Oct. 19, U.S. Magistrate Judge Joan G. Margolis will consider releasing Perlitz if the approximately $5 million bond is raised and additional people volunteer to watch him during his release.

But not if Marguerite Laurent, president of the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network, and Paul Kendrick, co-founder of the Maine chapter of Voice of the Faithful, which advocates on behalf of individuals sexually abused by Catholic clergy, have any say about Perlitz's release.

The pair is urging members of their groups to send letters to Margolis, who is considering releasing Perlitz on Monday. Kendrick also wrote William F. Dow III, Perlitz's lawyer, and Philip Allen Lacovara, a New York lawyer who was a board member of the Haiti Fund, which raised money or Project Pierre Toussaint.

"I'm not going to stand by and let Dow throw as much mud against the wall, hoping to kick up a lot of stuff that has nothing to do with this case," said Kendrick, who with Laurent say they will attend the Oct. 19 hearing at U.S. District Court in New Haven. "I want to know how certain they can be that Doug Perlitz didn't abuse any victims in Haiti and they can guarantee he won't abuse any more in the Fairfield neighborhood where he is allowed to live," he said.

Under the terms of a preliminary release order suggested by Dow last week, Perlitz would be allowed to work in the law office of Thomas Tisdale on Spruce Street in Fairfield and live in the Congress Street home of Anthony and Laura Sirianni. Anthony Sirianni is a retired lawyer who has multiple sclerosis and is confined to a wheelchair.

But if Perlitz is released as expected, Kendrick said he will be distributing "warning leaflets to neighbors about Perlitz's background and dangerous presence in the Fairfield community."

"After all," Kendrick added, "children depend upon the adults in their lives to protect them."

In a letter to Dow, Kendrick wrote, "I am asking you to act as a responsible and accountable member of the community by using your own common sense to help protect children from being sexually abused. ... You must know that you are gambling with the lives of innocent children. It is not possible for anyone, Mr. Dow, other than his prison guards, to supervise and monitor Perlitz's every move."

"When people bring out the pitchforks and the torches, they infect everybody and cripple the presumption of innocence," Dow responded Tuesday.

The New Haven defense lawyer maintains that sexual abuse allegations may be the result of a "Hatfield-McCoy" dispute between factions of Haitian boys and supervisors at Project Pierre Toussaint in one of the poorest nations in the world.

"There's no claim of any misconduct by Mr. Perlitz in the United States," Dow said. "Mr. Perlitz is presumed to be innocent. His supporters fervently believe his innocence. He's legendary for a history of good works."

But Kendrick claims that if Perlitz is released on bail, "there is nothing to stop him from using prepaid phone cards or prepaid cell phones to continue his threats and intimidation of his victims in Haiti."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Krishna Patel, who is prosecuting the case, has raised that same concern.

Patel told Margolis last week that Perlitz received 17 phone calls from Haiti on Sept. 15, a day before his arrest in Colorado. She also filed documentation showing Perlitz traveled five times to the Dominican Republic and once to El Salvador as recently as March, supposedly to meet with people formerly associated with his program.

Laurent's letter to Margolis warns the judge that Perlitz's release "will cause greater fear among the victims who were abused as well as allow Perlitz more opportunity to continue his campaigns to stop victims from testifying." She claims most of the victims are "vulnerable orphans with no parents, no shelter and little or no state protection in Haiti."

Laurent urged other Haitian lawyers in an e-mail to write the judge.

"The children victims have already suffered the unspeakable, now powerful forces and collaborators connected with this case with money and influence may be hunting them down to prevent their testifying," the letter reads.

"Opportunists abound everywhere to influence these small victims."

 

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Jesuits, diocese asked to help sex abuse victims, Group protests handling of sex abuse allegations by Genevieve Reilly, Connecticut Post, Oct. 15, 2009


FAIRFIELD -- Standing in the cold rain Thursday at the entrance to the Fairfield University campus, two members of SNAP -- Survivor's Network of those Abused by Priests -- called on the Jesuits and

 

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Haiti's Riches: Interview with Ezili Dantò on Mining in Haiti

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Oil in Haiti - Economic Reasons for the UN/US occupation by Ezili Dantò

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Oil in Haiti, by Dr. Georges Michel , webzinemaker.com, March 27, 2004 [Please refer to the French Original]

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Haiti is full of oil, say Ginette and Daniel Mathurin,
Radio Metropole, Jan 28, 2008 [French Original]
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Majescor and SACG Discover a New Copper-Gold in Haiti, Oct. 6, 2009

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Fort Liberte's deep water port
(Photo of Fort Liberte, Haiti)


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Fr. Paul Carrier, S.J. Near The End Of The Line, Posted by Good Jesuit, Bad Jesuit blog
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Donate to support Ezili's HLLN work
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/donate/donate.html

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Standing on truth, living without fear – Supporting Barack Obama’s vision of what can be…
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The Haitian struggle - the greatest David vs. Goliath battle being played out on this plane

 

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‘...Hayti (is) the glory of the blacks and terror of tyrants...I hope that she may be united, keeping a strict look-out for tyrants, for if they get the least chance to injure her, they will avail themselves of it...But one thing which gives me joy is, that they (the Haitians) are men (and women) who would be cut off to a man before they would yield to the combined forces of the whole world-----in fact, if the whole world was combined against them it could not do anything with them...’ ---David Walker
from: David Walker’s Appeal, 1829

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Dessalines Is Rising!!
Ayisyen: You Are Not Alone!


"When you make a choice, you mobilize vast human energies and resources which otherwise go untapped...........If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want and all that is left is a compromise." Robert Fritz

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