A man in the United States is facing many years in prison for sexually abusing boys at a home he founded for impoverished children in Haiti. The convict, Michael Karl Geilenfeld, will know his sentence on May 5, 2025.
According to the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), Geilenfeld was charged with seven counts of sexually abusing the boys in his care, and he could be sentenced to up to 30 years for each.
A report from the Jamaica Gleaner detailed that the DOJ said, “This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.”
Seventy-three-year-old Geilenfeld was convicted last Thursday by a Miami jury for abusing many of the boys at the orphanage. The facility, St Joseph’s Home for Boys, is situated in Haiti. According to the DOJ, citing court documents and evidence presented during the trial, the facility was founded in 1985 and catered to orphaned, impoverished, and vulnerable children. The home has been in operation for more than two decades, per the report.
The DOJ reported that Geilenfeld, who is from Colorado, repeatedly travelled from the US to Haiti to the facility. While there, he “sexually abused the boys entrusted to his care.”
During the trial, six victims affiliated with the charges testified that they were sexually abused by Geilenfeld. Each of the victims was a minor at the time of the abuse. Additionally, the Department of Justice reported that four other individuals who were not part of the formal charges came forward with testimonies detailing the sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of Geilenfeld.
Geilenfeld’s conviction consisted of one count of travelling abroad with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and six counts of engaging in illegal sexual acts in a foreign country between the period of 2005 and 2010.