PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A U.S. citizen who founded a Haiti orphanage for boys has returned to the Caribbean country after a U.S. jury ordered an activist to pay $14.5 million in damages for falsely accusing him of sexually abusing children in his care.
A lawyer for Michael Geilenfeld says the orphanage founder feels vindicated by the jury verdict and is looking forward to resuming work in Haiti. Attorney Peter Detroy said Wednesday that he instructed Geilenfeld to make no public statements until after any appeals.
Geilenfeld founded the St. Joseph Home for Boys in the 1980s. He and a charity that raises money for the home filed a defamation suit against a Maine activist who publicized past allegations of sexual abuse that they said were false. The jury returned the verdict last week.
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