The American founder of an orphanage in Haiti pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to new federal charges accusing him of traveling from Miami to the island and sexually assaulting four underage boys under his care more than a decade ago.
But during his detention hearing in Miami federal court, a prosecutor said Michael Karl Geilenfeld “sexually abused 20 boys” at his orphanage and then threatened them not to say anything or they would be harmed.
“We have multiple people saying the defendant sexually abused them in the same way,” Justice Department prosecutor Eduardo Palomo told a federal judge.
Palomo argued that Geilenfeld, who was granted a bond by a magistrate judge in Denver before his recent transfer to Miami, should not be released before trial because he’s a danger to the community and a flight risk to the Caribbean.
U.S. District Judge David Leibowitz agreed, ordering that the 72-year founder…
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