International group finds rough go at helping Perlitz victims

Michael P. Mayko, Staff Writer

Published 05:40 p.m., Saturday, December 3, 2011

The plan was simple enough.

Give these Haitian homeless boys who endured years of sexual abuse at the hands of Douglas Perlitz, a humanitarian turned predator, a new chance at succeeding in life by providing them food, clothes, shelter, skills and an education.

But after six months and $143,696 spent, Kids Alive International pulled the plug on its program.

"Our program didn't work," admits a disappointed Alfred Lackey, president of Kids Alive, an evangelical charity group based in Indiana chosen by Fairfield University and other charitable groups, to help the victims of the Project Pierre Toussaint sex scandal. "We're sorry it didn't work."

Lackey refuses to blame any person, event or incident except to say "there a lot of influences happening on their lives both here and in Haiti."

SCANDAL KILLS PROJECT

Long before the sex scandals involving young children enveloped Penn State and Syracuse universities, one crushed Project Pierre Toussaint-- a three-stage program funded by wealthy Catholics and designed to feed, clothe and educate hundreds of abandoned young boys living on the dangerous, impoverished streets of Cap-Haitien, Haiti's second largest city.

In just two years the program, buttressed by millions in donations from wealthy Catholics, grew from a parking lot to an enclosed compound of eight buildings where nearly 100 chosen boys would find daily food, schooling and refuge.

But in 2007, word of Perlitz rousing boys from their dormitory beds or inviting them home -- all for his sexual gratification -- spread.

Cyrus Sibert, a Haitian journalist, told their story to the world.

As a result, investigations were launched by the Haitian National Police, the United Nations and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement division. The Haitian National Police issued a report identifying 29 victims.

On Sept. 16, 2009, Perlitz was arrested in Colorado. In August 2010, he pleaded guilty to a federal charge of traveling overseas to engage in sexual conduct with a minor. Last Dec. 21, he was sentenced to 19 years and 10 months in prison. He is incarcerated in Seagoville, Texas with an Oct. 5, 2026 release date.

And Project Pierre Toussaint?

The scandal killed donations. With no money coming in, Project Pierre Toussaint closed its doors, tossing the boys it was designed to help back onto the street. Today some sleep in courtyards, some in fields, some on rooftops, often with both hands clutching their meager belongings and one eye focused on the people lying near them.

TURN BACK THE CLOCK

On Dec. 21, 2010, Lackey sat in the back of the courtroom listening to Perlitz's sentencing. He heard six victims, their voices racked in emotion, describe the sexual abuse they suffered and the emotional scars they carry with them. He saw them pause and take deep breaths to quell the emotion in their voices as tears rolled down their cheeks. He then watched Perlitz turn and face the group, offering an apology.

When it ended, Lackey vowed Kids Alive "will be part of these kids for the rest of their lives."

Kids Alive was selected from a number of charities, according to the Rev. Jeffrey P. von Arx, president of Fairfield University. "It took us a long time to find Kids Alive," von Arx said during a recent interview. "We talked to a number of organizations. None of the others seemed able to undertake the task ahead."

Previously, Michael McCooey, who headed the now-defunct Haiti Fund, Project Pierre Toussaint's fund-raising arm, said he reached out to 60 charities during a two-year period but only Kids Alive was interested. McCooey did not return phone messages for this article.

What Kids Alive's had in its favor was that it had worked with orphans in Cap-Haitien and employed some of Project Pierre Toussaint's teachers and administrators. An agreement with a two-year commitment was reached.

Nearly $144,000 was raised in donations, much of which came from Fairfield University and the Order of Malta, a wealthy worldwide Roman Catholic charity which provided Perlitz with start-up money in 1997 for his Project Pierre Toussaint.

"We laid out goals we thought would help bring independence and dignity to the boys," Lackey said.

A NEW BEGINNING

By January, Kids Alive contracted with nine private and three public schools to provide elementary and high school level classes to 54 of the former Project Pierre Toussaint students. Thirteen others were enrolled in trades at Holy Spirit School, which offered courses in mechanical repair, building construction, welding, tailoring and computer science.

Kids Alive spent $31,761 of the $143,696 on tuition.

"The young men who were at the trade school took their courses very seriously," said Lackey. "They were at school each day and their scores were also satisfactory."

However the students completed only five months of the three-year program because Kids Alive pulled out.

Lackey said the biggest problem was with the boys who attended grade schools.

"They came to our specially designed classes ... when they wanted to," he said. "Only 55 percent attended classes. Their need to work and their embarrassment of attending a specially designed fourth-grade class as a 20-year old man had a major impact on their attendance."

This was also around the time rumors of a federal lawsuit seeking millions in damages from institutions like Fairfield University, the Order of Malta, the Society of Jesus and Project Pierre Toussaint's wealthy benefactors began swirling.

"These weren't 8-year-old children who you could develop a trust with and then help guide ... Some of these boys had reached the age of manhood," Lackey said.

From January to June, Kids Alive spent $56,342 on food; $5,426 on clothes; $2,859 on medical care and counseling and $1,931 on transportation. An additional $29,366 was spent on management and salaries, $11,375 on rent.

But Lackey said what Kids Alive perceived as the students' needs, weren't their real needs.

"Their needs were changing," he said. "Some needed money and had to work. Some had jobs they didn't want to lose by going to school."

And some just felt there was a big payoff lawsuit coming down the road.

"We were never able to create the trust," Lackey said. "If we had them in an isolated environment I really think we could have accomplished some neat things. Remember we went from nothing in December to getting them into schools in no time."

Sibert, the Haitian journalist, and Paul Kendrick, a Fairfield University graduate now advocating for the victims, blame the Kids Alive's failure on its inability to connect, counsel and address the students' concerns and needs.

"They launched their program without talking to people like me who knew how complex their situation was," said Sibert. "The problem with non-governmental organizations in Haiti is they believe themselves to be too important and too powerful to listen to suggestions from the community.

"They refuse to understand the population they are trying to serve, they refuse to share information, they just listen to one man or a little group."

Sibert said Kids Alive did not have a good plan.

Sibert said two of the victims have serious psychological problems that weren't being treated. Additionally, both he and Kendrick believe Kids Alive should have provided physicals as well as test all of the victims for sexually transmitted diseases.

BIG EXPECTATIONS

During a March court hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Krishna Patel, who prosecuted Perlitz, and McCooey, the Haiti fund official, advised U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton that some of the victims threatened Kids Alive staffers with machetes claiming they were holding out on huge court payoffs.

Lackey, Sibert and Kendrick all downplayed the machete threat as a misunderstanding which occurred when Kids Alive staffers removed furniture from Project Pierre Toussaint's residential school to use in the new effort.

Lackey suspects former students were "reacting out of seeing their lives torn apart again'' -- that this was a message the school wouldn't reopen.

No one was hurt and after a long discussion the needed furniture was moved, he said.

Lackey said it was the first evidence "that we were losing the battle of influence."

That's because "the boys think this court is sitting on millions and millions of dollars here," McCooey told the judge in March.

All Arterton had was slightly more than $49,000 seized from Perlitz's three bank accounts.

In August, she began parceling that money out to 16 known victims of Perlitz's sexual attacks.

The judge ordered Rod Cattail, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent who investigated the case, to travel to Cap Haitien and open separate $1,000 bank accounts for each of these 16 victims. An additional $1,000 will be wired into these accounts in February, and again in September. That last wire would contain slightly more than $1,000 based on accumulated interest.

With the initial money, one of the victims opened up a sandal business and another bought a motorized scooter to use to taxi Cap-Haitien residents for a fee. A third victim was trying to buy some cheap land and a fourth repaired his family's house, said Sibert.

ON THE HORIZON

Since the court hearing, three of the victims have filed federal lawsuits against Perlitz for the sexual abuse. The suits also seek damages from the Rev. Paul Carrier, Perlitz's mentor who served as Fairfield University's long time director of campus ministry as well as an official in the Haiti Fund; Fairfield University; the Society of Jesus, Carrier's religious order; the Haiti Fund; Hope Carter, a wealthy New Canaan woman and Haiti Fund officer; and 12 yet-to-be-identified others. These defendants are accused of failing to stop the sexual abuse.

The victims are Jean-Charles Joseph, who claims he was 15 in 2006 when first abused; Denis Mesamour, who claims his abuse began at age 13 in 2003 and Thony Vall, who claims he was abused for four years beginning at age 13 in 2001.

The suits were brought by Mitchell Garabedian, a Boston lawyer known for bringing numerous sexual abuse cases against Catholic priests. More lawsuits involving another 20 victims are anticipated.

Kendrick said the abused boys are entitled "to damages for the harm and injuries they suffered. Their lives have been altered forever."

But more importantly, Kendrick hopes the lawsuits will expose `how this happened and how it was allowed to continue."

Lawyers representing Fairfield University; the Haiti Fund; the Society of Jesus; Carter and Carrier have filed motions to dismiss the cases against their clients. All deny any role in or responsibility for Perlitz's actions.

Stanley A. Twardy Jr., a former U.S. Attorney who represents Fairfield University, said the school had no control over Carrier's involvement with Perlitz, with Project Pierre Toussaint or with the Haiti Fund, of which several Fairfield University employees were involved.

____________________

"La vraie reconstruction d'Haïti passe par des réformes en profondeur des structures de l'État pour restaurer la confiance, encourager les investisseurs et mettre le peuple au travail. Il faut finir avec cette approche d'un État paternaliste qui tout en refusant de créer le cadre approprié pour le développement des entreprises mendie des millions sur la scène internationale en exhibant la misère du peuple." Cyrus Sibert
Reconstruction d'Haïti : A quand les Réformes structurelles?
Haïti : La continuité du système colonial d'exploitation prend la forme de monopole au 21e Siècle.
WITHOUT REFORM, NO RETURN ON INVESTMENT IN HAITI (U.S. Senate report.)

samedi 3 décembre 2011