Washington - A 66-year-old man who ran a centre for orphaned and impoverished Haitian youth in Port-au-Prince has been charged with sexual abuse of minors, the US Justice Department said on Friday.
Matthew Andrew Carter, also known by the aliases of William Charles Harcourt and Bill Carter, of Brighton, Michigan, was charged on Thursday with four counts of travelling in foreign commerce for the purposes of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with minors.
Carter has run and lived at the Morning Star centre in the Haitian capital since the mid-1990s, according to the Justice Department.
“The acts that the defendant is charged with committing, quite simply, defy belief,” said US Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer in a statement.
“As charged in the indictment, he preyed upon and terrorised impoverished Haitian children who were in dire need of the services offered by the Morning Star centre - the very children he was purporting to help,” Breuer said.
Carter allegedly sexually abused several minors in his care, pushing children to engage in illicit sexual conduct, sometimes in order to remain at the centre and continue receiving food, shelter and schooling, the Justice Department said.
Carter travelled frequently to the United States from his centre, often on fundraising trips, it added.
He was arrested in Miami on May 8 on a criminal complaint and has been in custody since. - Sapa-AFP