by Joshua J. McElwee
And here's another story to add to the sex abuse list.
The News-Times, a daily newspaper in Danbury, Conn., is reporting today that Douglas Perlitz -- a young man known for his creation of a program in Haiti to help homeless boys -- will plead guilty today of sexually abusing a boy.
From the report:
The government intends to recommend a sentence of 188 to 235 months inprisonment for Perlitz, while defense attorneys were seeking a sentence of between 97 and 122 months.
Perlitz, 40, formerly of Bridgeport and Fairfield, received funding from the Order of Malta, a Roman Catholic charity and collected donations from wealthy Fairfield and Westchester County Catholics to create Project Pierre Toussaint, a three-stage program in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, the country's second-largest city, to prepare abandoned boys for adult life.
He was arrested last September in Colorado on numerous charges of traveling from the U.S. to Cap-Haitien for the purpose of sexually abusing 18 minor boys. The case had attracted international attention, with Haitian Americans attending some of the pre-trial court proceedings.
Barbara Blaine, president and founder of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), released a press release with a response to Perlitz's guilty plea.
From that response:
