Perlitz
After a flurry of motions the day before, the hearing on the detainment of Doug Perlitz ‘92 was largely anticlimactic.
On a rainy Wednesday morning, Perlitz was led into the Court Room 3 at the Richard C. Lee U.S. Court House in New Haven with a denim jacket covering his khaki prison jumpsuit, with his family sitting behind him for support. Meanwhile, a group of Haitian supporters sat across the court room, stating they were providing a voice for the children.
William F. Dow III, Perlitz’s lead lawyer, opened by saying that the federal Magistrate Judge Joan G. Margolis had set forth conditions for release, but the defense had not yet met the requirements. Dow asked for the right to continue the matter at a later date if the defense should choose to. The government’s petition for detainment was granted without prejudice.
“It’s an extraordinary bond requirement,” said Dow after the hearing. “It involves a bunch of moving parts, like playing three-level chess.”
He said that the bond issues were largely mechanical and that the defense plans to eventually contest the detention once it has better met the bail requirements. During the initial portion of the hearing, before the 20 day recess and continuation, the judge seemed to indicate that she would accept a bond in the $4-5 million range along with increased third-party custodians.
This hearing comes on the heels of two motions filed yesterday, one by Dow outlining a new proposed package for release, which included 19 other people to raise bail money along with 12 more third-party back-up custodians. Dow said that motion was just an outline of a package and that it is a”dynamic one, not a static one, pieces have to be filled in.”
That motion was followed by a rebuttal by the government. The government also attached “Exhibit A,” which stated that after a very preliminary investigation by an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agent, Perlitz’s computer was found to contain over 100 images of nude black males performing sex acts along with numerous URLs to various sex Websites.
“We haven’t seen any information about what they are alleging with the computer,” said Dow. “There is nothing illegal about any of the conduct the government described.”
He added that these type of allegations are intended to serve as “lightening rods” to raise support for the prosecutor’s case in the public eye.
But in the end the allegations may have accomplished that goal, at least according to those who attended to speak against Perlitz’s potential release. The new information may have helped turn the tide against releasing Perlitz, according to Henri Alexander, a lawyer and member of the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network (HLLN). He said that he thought that some people who may have been willing to support Perlitz now do not want their names associated with the case.
Alexander, along with Ezili Danto, the founder of the HLLN, attended the hearing along with 10 Haitians to give the people of Haiti a voice after the previous hearing which was well-attended by Perlitz supports, a fact pointed out several times by Dow during that portion of the hearing.
“We’re not too, too informed about the case,” said Odelin Francois, the president of Global Network for Progress, which strives to provide impoverished children an education. “But from what we’ve heard, we feel he is praying on poor black kids. He gives them bread and education so he can use them. Black kids are not for sale and not for abuse. We can provide for ourselves, we don’t need these people.”
Gina Magloirie, another Haitian who came up from New York City to support the motion to detain Perlitz, said that the next time, even more Haitians would come. She compared it to the time when Haitians were blamed for AIDS and they “shut down New York City and marched across the bridge. We made history and we will do it again.”
She was referring to April 1990 when more than 50,000 people crossed the Brooklyn Bridge, poured in lower Manhattan and surrounded City Hall to protest a Food and Drug Administration ban on blood donations from Haitians as a precaution against spreading AIDS.
Magloirie said that she and her fellow Haitians will come to the court house “until the judge is tired of seeing our faces. We will be here in snow, rain, we don’t care.”
After the hearing, supporters of detaining Perlitz stood outside holding signs with phrases such as, “Justice for the Haitian Children,”No Bail for Pedophile,” and “Doug Perlitz Pedophile.”
Paul Kendrick ‘72, who has spoken out against releasing Perlitz on bail, also attended the hearing, making the trip from Maine. Kendrick plans to meet with Fairfield University administrators in early November and call on them to raise money for the school in Haiti that Perlitz founded. It is currently being supported by remaining members of the Haiti Fund, including current chairman Michael McCooey, who split away when allegations were made against Perlitz. They did not sign a letter, as some board member did, defending Perlitz.
Kendrick again emphasized that the University should try to help the suffering Haitian children, rather than try and distance themselves from the case. The Project Pierre Toussaint school is currently being watched by guards paid for by McCooey, according to Kendrick, because it is a target for looting and vandalism.
Pictures from the protest outside the courthouse
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Fr. Thomas Smolich, at the Jesuit USA headquarters in Washington, DC, should act immediately to protect children from Jesuit lay-missionaries like Douglas Perlitz.
Each Jesuit University in the USA needs to immediately inform the directors of university-related committees, which have links to humanitarian work in foreign countries, of the charges in the Perlitz-Fairfield-Haiti scandal to prevent this sort of [alleged] sexual gratification from harming third-world children and tarnishing other Jesuit Universities.
Rob,
Great suggestion Rob but please know that Smolich will no more do the right thing than any bishop in this country. Less than 20 dioceses in this country publish the names, phots and location of priests who have CREDIBLY ACCUSED. They refuse to protect children in their own dioceses, never mind some poor children in Haiti or some other poor country. Do you really think Smolich will act to raise awareness? This is doubtful.
Let’s change our language though. What Perlitz has been accused of is more than some sexually gratification. It is severe violence against the bodies, minds and souls of innocent children. The violence some of these children have reported to have endured was so severe they sought medical care for bleeding from their rectums. Use the real words, not the words of the hierarchs. This is rape, sodomy, sexual assault, and worse against children! For God’s sake!
You should have seen his cocky smirk in the courtroom today.
Lord willing, that cocky smirk on Perlitz’s face will fade when more people learn of his computer surfing for pornography just before his arrest. Anyone who posts bond for him is misguided in the extreme.
My heart goes out to the Haitian boys he lived amongst, given his stated preferences. Rob is right: use the real words like rape and sodomy. Note how Perlitz wanted “boys,” not men in his google searches.
Read and learn. See http://www.connpost.com/breakingnews/ci_13658998
The delay in Perlitz’s attempt to post bond came hours after a federal prosecutor advised the judge that the accused was trolling Internet sites shortly before his Sept. 16 arrest in Colorado, “conducting Google searches” for “gay boys black” “Colorado Haitians” and “africa boyz” and Yahoo searches for “gay black boys,” according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Krishna Patel.
“Moreover, the initial findings indicate that Perlitz’s activities on the computer included access to forum pages which included places where people could post personals, arrange for meetings and identify cruising places,” the prosecutor said.
Finally, congratulations to Paul Kendrick of Maine for his persistent efforts for justice.
At 5:45 p.m. last evening, I received the following message (see below) from Dr. Mark Reed, a senior official at Fairfield University. Dr. Reed and I exchanged several emails during the past few weeks regarding a date and time for Dr. Reed, Rama Sudhaker and I to meet. We had originally decided upon October 19th, and then rescheduled our meeting until November 6th. Now, it appears, there will be no meeting at all.
It was my intention to focus our discussion on rescuing the hungry and homeless Haitian children who have been forced back into the streets of Cap Haitian because Project Pierre Toussaint is closed. For twelve years, the three major (and proud) financial sponsors of the Project were Fairfield University, The New England Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and the Order of Malta. Project Pierre Toussaint and Douglas Perlitz quickly became the darling of the University’s Campus Ministry program. University officials at the highest levels took great delight in honoring and publicizing Perlitz and the Haiti Project. Sadly, the very hint of scandal has driven everyone away.
At our meeting, I had hoped to urge (it seems time for a much stronger word) Dr. Reed and Ms. Sudhaker into realizing that the University has an immediate obligation to assist the Project by raising money so that the Project can reopen and have time to get back on its feet.
Dr. Reed’s concerns about lawyers and an independent inquiry are absolute nonsense (see his email). The kids in Haiti need help now — this very minute, in fact. It is quite remarkable to me that not one Fairfield University official has picked up the phone and called Michael McCooey, the Project’s current board chairperson. McCooey has been working diligently (and spending his own money) to keep the school in shape to reopen. It is beyond belief that neither President Jeffrey von Arx, S.J., Dr. Mark Reed, Rev. Michael Doody, S.J. (campus ministry), nor any other University official has contacted Mr. McCooey to say, “Let’s get together for lunch. Let’s talk about how we can once again help these kids.”
Perhaps, we should raise our collective consciousness and focus on the essentials of a Jesuit education. If the service of our faith must include the promotion of justice, is it right and just for the University to abandon a project it helped nourish for so many years?
Paul Kendrick
Fairfield University ‘72
kendrickpt@aol.com
______________________________________________
From: “Reed, Mark” < mcreed@fairfield.edu>
Date: October 28, 2009 17:45:24 EDT
To: “Paul Kendrick” < kendrickpt@aol.com>
Cc: “Sudhakar, Rama” < RSudhakar@fairfield.edu>
Subject: RE: RE: RE: RE:
Paul,
I am sorry to inform you that Rama and I will not be able to meet with you next week on Friday, Nov. 6.
As you may be aware, the University retained counsel to conduct an independent inquiry concerning the relationship with The Haiti Fund Inc. and Project Pierre Toussaint. That inquiry is on-going. We have determined that a meeting prior to the conclusion of the inquiry would not serve a constructive purpose.
I certainly apologize for any inconvenience our cancelling our meeting causes you and appreciate your understanding.
Sincerely,
Mark C. Reed
Vice President for Administrative & Student Affairs
Fairfield University
203.254.4000, ext. 2244
Why does Fairfield have this obligation to attend to the needy people of Haiti? Who was concerned about Haiti before Doug Perlitz went down there? Who was concerned about Haiti before this scandal broke?If you are that concerned about Haiti, go down there yourself and get involved. Do not preach why it now becomes the University’s responsibility to atone for the alleged wrongs . If you really care that much, do not attack Fairfield for its role and its moral duty;rather, get an army of volunteers and do something about it yourself.
Michael O’Rourke’s comment hardly reflects what I consider a Christian attitude in the matter of Fairfield University’s responsibility toward a program it endorsed and supported for years, when it suited its purposes.
Now, Fairfield’s Mark Reed is apparently hands off when it comes to desperate Haitian children they once embraced but now abandon — not because of anything the children did, but because institutional concerns for its own reputation outweigh those children’s needs. Use them for self-congratulations apparently, but not genuine outreach.
Shame on Fairfield, the New England Jesuits and the Knights of Malta for shepherding children only when it brings them kudos. Their responsibility should be sharpened, not aborted at the moment of greatest hazard for children forced back into the street. Moreover, those children are castigated for not continuing to allow their bodies to be sexually abused as the price for locals gaining economic benefits.
Fairfield, Jesuits, and the Knights remember not Christ’s admonition, suffer the children to come unto me. They wash their hands and tell the children to go suffer someplace else.
As for Paul Kendrick, he has been going to Haiti for years to minister to the needy. He requires no spiteful, ignorant comments from Mr. O’Rourke regarding his dedication to serving Haitian children.
It is that very dedication that prompts Kendrick to remind Fairfield of its moral and financial responsibility to follow through when its self-protecting maneuvers defy the Gospel. O’Rourke would benefit enormously by seeing in person what has happened to those children, if he dare follow through on his prescription for others.
Fairfield could solicit funds to help those children now left to their own devices. It could acknowledge its concern and marshal resources to bring healing to the innocent faces of Jesus in the name of Jesus.
Recognizing its extended past involvement and current unwillingness to ignore the children’s plight, Fairfield could engage the better angels of its nature, not risk-managing legal counsel.
It could reject numbing bureaucratic superficialities about Fairfield’s “relationship“ with the Haitian charities, and be a voice of integrity.
Their choice, but who is the Good Samaritan here?
lest I be confused with Michael O’Rourke.
I am shocked but not surprised by your comments. You, like so many others come running to the defense of the “institution” before jumping in and figuring out how to help the children whose hopes have been crushed by the shuttering of Perlitz’ and Fairfield’s favorite program.
Because this program provided service to the poorest of the poor and despite the fact that Perlitz has been accused of some horrific crimes, none of this negates the need for continuation of the program in Perlitz’ absence. Now more than ever these children need assisatnce.
I believe this is what Paul Kendrick has been trying to promote through Fairfield. Let’s all roll up our sleeves and figure out how to continue the program. Let’s appeal to the large dondors who pulled their money, not because of Perlitz being charged but rather because some on the Board decided to investigate complaints and then decided to remove Perlitz from this post. How outrageous that they did not continue their donations for the sake of the children.
Come on Fairfield and Michael O’Rourke, let’s figure this out and stop abandoning these children. That is what you’re doing now. Fairfiled, the Jesuits and the alum do have a gospel responsibility to these children, even if they did report their abuse. Now is not the time to abandon them, because you’re angry they spoiled your image of the program! This is so typical of Catholics when their image of Church by reports of horrific crimes. Never mind the innocent children who reported being raped or sodomized.
Catholics can always come home? Not if you report sexual abuse within the Catholic Church! Nor if you are Paul Kendrick speaking the truth of abuse.