Group collects money to help alleged Haitian sex victims.

Group collects money to help alleged Haitian sex victims. Michael P. Mayko, Staff Writer Published: 05:15 p.m., Sunday, June 13, 2010 http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Group-collects-money-to-help-alleged-Haitian-sex-522481.php   A small Massachusetts group which advocates for victims of sexual abuse by the Catholic clergy has stepped forward to collect money for several Haitian youths expected to testify against Douglas Perlitz, the former Bridgeport resident accused of assaulting them, The youths were all students at Project Pierre Toussaint, which Perlitz helped create in their country that offered a three-part program to educate, fed and clothe abandoned boys living in Cap-Haitien, Haiti's second largest city.   "We've been following this heart-wrenching story," said Ruth Moore, coordinator of Speak Truth to Power based in Newton, Ma. "To think these kids, hungry and shoeless, are re-victimized by being thrown back onto the street to fend for themselves is unconscionable and certainly not very Christian."   The program closed last summer in the wake of a federal investigation that led to Perlitz's arrest on 24 international sex charges to which he has pleaded not guilty.   The scandal created a breach among Perlitz's supporters and accusers in the Haiti Fund, the fund-raising arm of the project and a demise in donations.   Moore said members of her group donated $1,500 in the past week.   "We hope the money we raise sends a message to these children who had the courage to come forward to stay strong," she said. "We want them to realize they have not been forgotten."   The January earthquake, which ravaged Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital, and its surrounding cities, did not touch Cap-Haitien. However, that city experienced an influx of new residents fleeing from their earthquake damaged cities.   "The situation has become worse," said Cyrus Sibert, a Cap-Haitien journalist whose reporting exposed the sex scandal. "The children are suffering a lot. They have no food. They stay close to the public market with the hope that someone will give them food or clothing they can't sell. Sometimes you see them outside a closed restaurant looking for something to eat."   Sibert said none of the kids attended school since the project closed.   "It is very sad for me to see how those kids have been abandoned by Haitian authorities and even the U.S. government, which hasn't asked NGO (non-governmental organizations) from U.S. aid programs in Haiti to do something for the victims."   Sibert said some of the kids are contemplating going to the Dominican Republic or even earthquake-ravaged Port-au-Prince where they could take advantage of the humanitarian aid available for earthquake victims.   "God Bless Ruth Moore and other caring victims' supporters in the U.S.," Sibert said.   Meanwhile, Fairfield University, where Perlitz graduated from and where donations for his Project Pierre Toussaint were collected for a decade during Sunday masses, has pledged an unspecified amount to the Haiti Fund to help reopen the program.   "We have indicated our support and stand ready to help," said Rama Sudhakar, the university's vice president of marketing.   Sources have said the Order of Malta, which provided the start-up money to create Perlitz's program in 1997, also pledged financial assistance to the Haiti Fund. Attempts to contact Michael P. McCooey, chairman of the Haiti Fund, and Timothy Joyce, a Westchester lawyer who has been involved in the fund, were unsuccessful Thursday and Friday.   Eighteen children have told federal investigators, led by Rod Khattabi, a senior special agent with the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Custom Enforcement, they will testify in New Haven's federal court during Perlitz's October trial that he sexually abused them.   At least a dozen more have told the Connecticut Post that Perlitz never abused them or anyone else.   Perlitz, 39, formerly of Bridgeport, has pleaded not guilty to 24 charges of traveling from the U.S. to Haiti to engage in sex with minors and engaging in sex with minors in a foreign country.   However, U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton, who is presiding over the case, is mulling a motion by William F. Dow III and David Grudberg, Perlitz's lawyers, to dismiss the indictment because they claim there is no evidence any crime was committed in Connecticut.   Assistant U.S. Attorneys Krishna Patel and Stephen Reynolds maintain that travel arrangements were made in Connecticut and donations were raised in Connecticut to pay for the trips and expenses.