8/1/13 - A former Brighton man will spend the rest of his life in prison after traveling to Haiti to sexually abuse poor children in a center he set up in the Caribbean country. U.S District Court Judge Joan Lenard imposed the maximum 165-year prison sentence sought by prosecutors for 68-year-old Matthew Andrew Carter. He was convicted by a Miami federal jury in February on five counts of traveling from Florida to Haiti for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity with minors, along with one count of attempting child sex tourism. He received 15 years in prison for the first count and 30 years in prison for each of the remaining charges. During Wednesday's hearing, Carter disputed the credibility of the witnesses who testified against him, and questioned the lack of physical evidence presented during his trial. Carter's attorneys had objected to the U.S. government's plans to submit statements from 45 victims as part of sentencing proceedings but the Judge ruled they had the right to be heard. All of the letters were collected by U.S. authorities in Haiti after the trial, including 18 from victims who testified. Multiple complaints of sexual misconduct were investigated at the center over the last decade, but Haitian authorities never charged Carter with any crime, nor did they take the rare step of shutting down the center until after his arrest in the United States. (JM)
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