Missionary worker pleads guilty to sexually abusing boys while visiting Haiti

Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald on Sep 15, 2026

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A former Christian aid worker who confessed to molesting more than 30 boys in Haiti has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing children while carrying out missionary work in the Caribbean country.

Jeriah Mast, 45, of Millersburg, Ohio, pleaded guilty to two counts of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with minors in Haiti, the U.S. Department of Justice said. His sentencing is set for Dec. 15, and he is facing 25 to 33 years in prison.

Mast entered the plea Sept. 8, nearly a year after he was indicted by a federal grand jury on four counts involving four children in Haiti, where he oversaw a school for Christian Aid Ministries, an Ohio-based organization. The organization drew international attention in 2021, when 17 of its missionaries were kidnapped on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince by the 400 Mawozo gang.

“This type of predatory conduct — committed by someone entrusted with missionary work — represents a profound betrayal of trust,” Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said.

Mast’s guilty plea, Duva said, reflected both the severity of his crime and the department’s “unwavering commitment to holding U.S. citizens accountable when they exploit children abroad.” It also is an important step toward justice for the many victims harmed by Mast’s actions, Duva added. Mast’s victims were boys between the ages of 8 and 10, prosecutors said.

Flight records obtained by law enforcement showed that Mast traveled from the United States to Haiti over 30 times between November 2002 and 2018. During those trips, undertaken as part of his work for the Mennonite community, Mast “violated the innocence of children and violated the trust of those who supported his supposed missionary work,” said David M. Toepfer, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. “It is reprehensible behavior.”

According to a statement of facts filed in the case, law enforcement first learned of the allegations involving Mast on May 18, 2019. A private citizen had emailed a detective in the Holmes County Sheriff’s Office about possible sexual abuse committed by Mast when he was working for a church ministry in Haiti.

Days later, Mast arrived at the sheriff’s office accompanied by his wife, pastor and members of his Mennonite church, part of the Ohio Anabaptist community. He told detectives “that he had been molesting young boys for 15 years, with the last incident occurring eight weeks prior,” according to court records. The abuse, he said, occurred in both Haiti and Holmes County, and he provided specific details about the sexual acts.

“Mast estimated that he molested 30-31 boys in Haiti and 4 locally,” court records said.

Mast also told detectives that he had compiled a list of all of his Haitian victims that he remembered that he provided to detectives. He also said that he had confessed to his church.

Mast’s was indicted on July 1, 2019, in Holmes County for sexually assaulting several children in that jurisdiction. He and his wife later portrayed his confession as an act of repentance.

“Many years ago, I had talked to each of the victims and told them I was very sorry for what I had done and asked for their forgiveness,” Mast told the court before his sentencing. “This past spring when I confessed and repented my sinful life, God opened my eyes to see the damage I had done.

“As part of my repentance,” he added, “I also felt it necessary to confess my crimes to law enforcement and take responsibility for them legally.”

Mast pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree gross sexual imposition with two of the minors in Ohio. He was sentenced to nine years in prison. In October 2025 after serving two-thirds of his sentence, he was released three years early, according to federal court records.

At that point Homeland Security Investigations, which had been alerted about the Haiti allegations, accelerated their federal investigation. A federal grand jury indicted him on Dec. 2, 2025, on four counts, each pertaining to a different Haitian victim.

In May, Mast sought to have the federal indictment dismissed, and separately tried to suppress statements he made during his confession. He claimed he had been coerced to confess. Prosecutors in court documents argued otherwise.

“Mast was not handcuffed or restrained in any way, and he was accompanied by his pastor, wife and other members of his church,” prosecutors wrote, noting that his pastor remained with him in the interview room.

Mast’s pattern of sexually abused boys existed during much of his adult life, prosecutors said. While some of the boys attempted to report the sexual abuse, others did not.

Attempts to report within Christian Aid Ministries, which coordinated Mast’s repeated trips from Ohio to Haiti, were also largely futile, as Mast was allowed to continue his missionary work and to have access to children, prosecutors argued. “Over the years, however, word spread that Mast had molested children and asked his victims for forgiveness,” they said.

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