Perlitz
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
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
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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Excellent article..
Am so thankful there is help for the voiceless child victims and voices who know how hard it is to allege horrible abuse by prominent people who hold all the power, (money, authority, connections) not only to pay their way out of charges, but to manipulate “supporters”.
On Maui several years ago a catholic deacon who was in charge of a parish was alleged to have raped a 12 year old boy for years.
The deacon (Ron Gonsalves) pled not guilty.
The laity at the church stood by their man and called the boy a liar.
They applauded their deacon in court. Raised money for his defence, Bragged about how their deacon got them money for a statute of their saint and kept the church finances in check..
How could someone who got them money molest a child and even if he did, his financial miracles far outweighed any child rape (this was the thinking of these brainwashed people.)
Ron Gonzalves (the deacon) ended up changing his plea to guilty.
Yes he lied the first time.
I think it took a good year or so for him to get “honest”.(he got a great deal)
It seemed to me watching that case that all the attention went to the perp while the victim was lost in the politics of the rights of the accused. The perp got the support of the church, and the laws that protected him while the victim got revictimized.
I think the reason i like this article so much is because the victims are being given true care..
People are standing up for them and helping them.
This is true progress.
Thank God for the advocacy groups and individuals like Ezili Danto, Paul Kendrick and others.
Without these groups and individuals keeping the spotlight of public opinion on Perlitz and his enablers and individual accused of such horrific activities would be given bail and might disappear forever.
Please do not let him out on any kind of bail, ankle bracelet or anything else.
He and his enablers should be tried under federal statutes. If there are other enablers, others who facilitated these alleged crimes, they should be arrested as well, no matter who they are.
Regardless of the outcome of this trial, the bottom line is that children are now sleeping on the streets. Tisdales, Lacovaras, Fr. Carrier, Hope Carter and anyone else that has passionately supported this project owe it to the children to use their resources to help these children as much as they are helping to prove Doug’s innocence. How about Doug having a public defender and give the money to the children in Haiti that would be spent on his trial? It’s a shame that they have walked away from these kids for the sake of supporting Doug. Whether you believe he did this or not, no matter whose side you are one, everyone involved with this charity needs to step up to the plate and dig into their pockets to get these kids back off the street. I don’t care who you believe, who said or did what. Set up an impartial fund and help these kids. They have suffered enough. It’s a disgrace that a community that once generously supported this charity has walked away from these poor children. Fairfield University, especially, should step up to the plate, as Mr. Kendrick suggested, and start a massive fundraising campaign for PPT. This case is getting enough publicity so they should use it to benefit the children.
What ever happened to “INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY”?????
It’s a shame all we have to read is one side of the story.
The issue at hand is not about whether or not a jury will eventually find Doug Perlitz guilty or not guilty, but rather, whether it is safe now to place Perlitz back in a community full of children until such time as the judicial system has sorted through the evidence brought against him.
We know that there was sufficient and credible evidence of child sex abuse by Perlitz for a federal grand jury to indict him and for U.S. law enforcement authorities to arrest and detain him.
It is the responsibility of mature and concerned adults to protect their kids from harm. Each and every day, moms and dads are making risk assessments on behalf of their children. Is it safe for kids to go to the park? Will lifeguards be present at the beach? Will the kids be safe crossing a busy street?
In Perlitz’s case, and on behalf of the community at large, the judge will attempt to weigh the risks associated with releasing Perlitz without yet having the opportunity to fully evaluate the evidence and testimony that will be presented at trial.
Like moms and dads everywhere, the judge will be assessing the risks associated with protecting children but, in this case, the risk is about providing a credibly accused child molester with access to innocent children (the ankle bracelet won’t stop child abuse).
It has not gone unnoticed that many prominent members of the community are supporting Perlitz’s innocence. The supporters say Perlitz should be released on bond, that he did not abuse children. I often wonder what it is that these supporters know about Perlitz’s past actions that so differs from the conclusions of four investigative agencies and a federal grand jury.
It is a fact that the Haitian children who are alleged to have been abused by Perlitz are scared to death of him. It is documented that Perlitz has been threatening and intimidating his alleged victims in an effort to silence them.
Are Perlitz’s supporters willing to guarantee to their neighbors that no child will be abused while Perlitz is free? Will Perlitz’s supporters provide a guarantee to those who support justice and due process that the children in Haiti will not be bullied, manipulated or physically beat up as a result of Perlitz’s well connected efforts to silence testimony and destroy evidence?
Assessing risk is not a science. However, providing an accused child molester with the benefit of the doubt prior to a thorough review and analysis of testimony and evidence is a gamble parents are not willing to take – here and in Haiti.
Half measures won’t keep kids safe. If we aren’t sure about what to do, we must err on the side of protecting children.
When Mr. Perlitz is found innocent, how might Mr. Kendrik be culpable for inciting and feeding this lynch mob frenzy?
As I understand this, Mr. Perlitz has lived back in the US for a few years – in cities with families and children – without any harm to anyone.
The heads of the mob as I can see it… Paul Kendrick (he who has had multiple restraining orders against him) and Tom Cleary, the editor of the Mirror and worse than Kendrick because of bad one sided reporting.
I’m Curious… What does this Fr. Eugene have to do with this?