Haitian School Founder Pleads Guilty to Sex Charges

American Douglas Perlitz, who founded a Haitian school for boys, admitted he traveled to Haiti between 2001 and 2008 in order to engage in sexual conduct with eight minor boys who attended his school, authorities said. Perlitz, 40, pleaded guilty to one count of traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct on Wednesday, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut, and will be sentenced December 21, where he faces a maximum of 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. “The defendant preyed on impoverished and powerless street children in Haiti, enticing them with significant benefits such as food, shelter, clothing and education, only to exploit his position of trust and sexually abuse the boys under his care,” said David Fein, U.S. attorney for Connecticut. Perlitz founded the now-closed boys’ school, Project Pierre Toussaint in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, in 1997 while still living in Connecticut. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in Connecticut last year on 10 counts of sexual abuse in Haiti, and was subsequently arrested in Colorado.