(CNN) -- An American school founder who young Haitian men once hailed as a savior was sentenced Tuesday to nearly 20 years in prison for sexually abusing them. Douglas Perlitz, 40, was sentenced in federal court in New Haven, Connecticut, to 19 years and 7 months behind bars for abusing the Haitian men when they were boys under his care, said Bruce Foucart, special agent in charge of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston. "We're very pleased with the sentence," he said. "He was brought to justice and I hope it sends a strong message to people who are doing that or who are even thinking about doing that."
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NEW: Several of the victims spoke about the abuse
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Douglas Perlitz began a charitable school in Cap-Haitien
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He was believed to be a great humanitarian
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Perlitz admitted to engaging in sexual conduct with eight minors
His response was: "Well, that's really hard because @placeholder has been doing this for the last 10 years."