Mich. man indicted in Fla. on child sex tourism charges alleging abuse of children in

ByAssociated Press, Published: June 24

MIAMI — A Michigan man who ran aresidential center for poor children in Haiti has been indicted on charges ofchild sex tourism, federal prosecutors said Friday.

Matthew Andrew Carter, 66, ofBrighton, Mich., forced boys at the Morning Star Center, which provided food,shelter and education, to engage in sexual conduct in exchange for gifts, moneyor continued care, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami said.

At the Port-au-Prince center,Carter, who also went by the names “William Charles Harcourt” and “BillCarter,” was known as “Mister Bill.”

A bearded father figure who walkedwith a limp, Carter showered boys with attention at the concrete home he hasrented for the last four years, and at two other locations where he operatedearlier. But he also beat his boys with sticks, punched them with his fists,fired his gun in the air and locked them in the yard “with the dogs,” fouryoung men at his center told The Associated Press. Yet despite the abuse theysaid they suffered or witnessed, the boys stayed at the center.

Carter has been in custody since hisarrest May 8 in Miami on a charge of traveling from the U.S. to Haiti for thepurpose of engaging in sexual conduct with minors.

A grand jury indicted Carter on May19, and a superseding indictment filed Thursday added three additional counts.If convicted, Carter faces up to 15 years in prison for one count of child sextourism and up to 30 years in prison for each of the other counts.

Carter’s federal public defender didnot immediately return messages Friday from The Associated Press.

Carter had run the school in theHaitian capital Port-au-Prince since the mid-1990s, and he regularly traveledbetween the Caribbean country and the U.S. to fundraise, according to courtdocuments.

Fourteen boys currently live at thecenter full-time, and three others live there on the weekends, the documentssaid.

Most of the boys’ families sent themto Carter’s center to receive support and educational opportunities that theycould not afford, while other boys were orphans, U.S. Immigration and CustomsEnforcement Special Agent Alvaro Flores wrote in a May 4 criminal complaint.

Carter engaged in illicit sexualconduct with at least eight former and current students from the mid-1990sthrough April, according to the criminal complaint. He allegedly forced thestudents to engage in sexual acts in exchange for gifts, money or continuedcare.

“This defendant preyed on innocentHaitian children living in severely depressed conditions, making his conductparticularly deplorable,” said U.S. Attorney Wilfredo Ferrer in a statementFriday. “Rather than using Morning Star as he promised — to administer aid andprovide sanctuary to needy children — he used the center to manipulate, abuseand sexually exploit them.”

One of the students toldinvestigators that the sexual abuse continued for six years, beginning when hewas 10. The student said Carter stopped buying him clothing, shoes and bookswhen, at age 16, he refused to perform any more sexual acts on Carter, Floreswrote in the complaint.

Another student said that Carterwould threaten to send other boys back to their families and poverty if theyrefused to perform sexual acts with him, Flores wrote. Yet another studentreported Carter beating him with a stick when he refused Carter’s instructionsfor sexual acts.

The young men who spoke with the APhave been living outside the center in tents since May when U.S. and Haitianauthorities locked its doors. One 22-year-old man told the AP he was sexuallyabused by Carter but declined to elaborate. Another said he was among the boysCarter invited into his bedroom.

The sexual activity wasn’t a secret,the men said.

“I knew what was going on butcouldn’t do anything,” said the 22-year-old man, who moved in with Carter nineyears ago. “He did a lot for me. He put me in school. If he gives me money, Iwouldn’t give anything back.”

The Associated Press generally does notidentify victims of alleged sexual abuse.

A friend of Carter’s, Bertha Wilesof Brighton, Mich., 50 miles west of Detroit, said Carter spent most of histime in Haiti and rarely visited Michigan.

Carter’s trial is scheduled to beginJuly 5.