DENVER — The American founder of a Haitian orphanage, against whom allegations of sexual abuse were filed on the island, was scheduled to appear in federal court on Thursday on new charges filed by U.S. authorities.
Michael Geilenfeld, 71, is accused of traveling from Miami to Haiti “for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with someone under the age of 18,” according to a Jan. 18 grand jury indictment in Florida. He was arrested in Colorado.
The conduct occurred between November 2006 and December 2010, according to the indictment, a period during which Geilenfeld operated the St. Joseph’s Home for Boys orphanage. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.
Geilenfeld made his first court appearance on Monday. He has not yet entered a plea, but has strongly denied previous allegations of sexual abuse made against him. His Massachusetts attorney, Robert Oberkoetter, declined to comment. Oberkoetter was not present at Monday’s hearing, but will represent Geilenfeld virtually at future hearings, according to the court.
Authorities in Haiti have long investigated sexual abuse allegations against Geilenfeld and arrested him in September 2014 based on allegations made against him by a child advocate in Maine, Paul Kendrick. Kendrick accused Geilenfeld of being a serial pedophile after speaking to young men who claimed they were abused by Geilenfeld when they were boys in Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital where he founded the orphanage in 1985.
Geilenfeld called the claims “cruel, vile lies” and his case was dismissed in 2015 after he spent 237 days in jail in Haiti. At one point, Geilenfeld and a charity affiliated with the orphanage, Hearts for Haiti, sued Kendrick in federal court in Maine. The lawsuit held Kendrick responsible for Geilenfeld’s capture, the damage to his reputation and the loss of millions of dollars in donations.
Kendrick’s insurance companies ended the lawsuit in 2019 by paying $3 million to Hearts with Haiti, but nothing to Geilenfeld.
Monday’s hearing granted prosecutors’ request to keep Geilenfeld in custody while the new case against him continues. During Thursday’s detention hearing, they were able to present evidence showing why he should remain behind bars and also begin the process of sending him to Miami for prosecution.