US court sentences longtime Haiti orphanage leader to 210 years for child abuse

Michael Karl Geilenfeld, founder of St. Joseph’s Home for Boys in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, was sentenced in a Miami courtroom on May 23 to 210 years in prison for sexually abusing multiple boys at the orphanage he led for over two decades.

The 73-year-old U.S. citizen was convicted in February of seven federal counts, including traveling to Haiti to engage in sex acts with minors and abusing several children. 

“The defendant’s sustained sexual, physical, and emotional abuse of some of the most vulnerable children in the world is intolerable,” said Matthew Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, according to a press release from the Department of Justice. 

Geilenfeld was charged with six counts of ‘illicit sexual conduct’ of six victims between 2005 and 2010, but an unknown number of other alleged victims of Geilenfeld’s also showed up to testify. 

Victims painted a grim picture of an institution that once drew international support. Testimony covered years of sexual violence, manipulation, and beatings.

“For decades, Geilenfeld used his position of trust and access to exploit vulnerable children under the guise of humanitarian work. We are grateful to those victims who came forward to report their abuse,” said Assistant Director Jose A. Perez of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division. 

Geilenfeld, who operated the Port-au-Prince-based home since 1985, was also found to have inflicted physical and emotional abuse on the vulnerable children he claimed to protect. 

St. Joseph’s Home for Boys had been known for helping orphaned and at-risk youth, but Geilenfeld’s conviction reveals long-hidden crimes and raises concerns about oversight in international aid operations.

Despite years of credible allegations, Geilenfeld evaded justice both in Haiti and the U.S., aided by his connections, perceived missionary status, and support from donors like the North Carolina nonprofit Hearts with Haiti.  In 2013, Hearts with Haiti and Geilenfeld participated in a six-year-long defamation suit against activist Paul Kendrick, denying Kendrick’s accusations that Geilenfeld was a pedophile.  

As Jacqueline Charles reports for the Miami Herald, victims described Geilenfeld as a “diabolical psychopath.” Victims who asked for help from Haitian authorities were silenced or threatened, with one survivor telling the court, “You managed to have all of the judges, police who were corrupt.” 

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