Former Brighton Resident Sentenced to 165 Years For Child Sex Tourism

Matthew Andrew Carter, 68, was sentenced to 165 years in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, Wednesday in a Miami court.

According to a press release for the US Department of Justice, Carter was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Joan A. Lenard of the Southern District of Florida.

Earlier this year, a jury found Carter guilty of five counts of traveling in foreign commerce from the United States to Haiti for the purpose of engaging in sexual activities with children, and one count of attempting to do so.

Carter also went by the names "William Charles Harcourt" and “Bill Carter."

"For 15 years, Matthew Carter, under the guise of serving as an international humanitarian, sexually abused more than 50 Haitian children," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Raman in a press release. "He held himself out as a savior to vulnerable children in Haiti, but in fact cruelly forced those children to choose between poverty and submitting to repeated sexual abuse. Child sex tourism is a heinous crime, and today's sentence demonstrates our commitment to bringing the weight of justice on anyone who seeks to exploit our most vulnerable citizens, wherever they reside."

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, from 1995 to 2011, Carter resided at and operated the Morning Star Center near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, prior to his arrest on May 8, 2011, the release states. The Morning Star Center was a residential facility that provided shelter, food, clothing and school tuition to Haitian children.

During his trail, 16 Haitian victims who resided at the Morning Star Center between 1995 and 2011 testified. In addition, four witnesses testified that they were sexually abused by Carter in London during the 1970s. The press release states that Carter previously was charged with and acquitted of charges related to the sexual abuse of children in London, Cairo and Winter Haven, FL.