Fort Myers Missionary, 70, Appears in Miami Federal Court Accused of Sexually Abusing Children in Haiti

A 70-year-old Christian missionary who public records indicate lives in Fort Myers appeared in Miami federal court Thursday, Oct. 15, accused of traveling from the United States to Haiti to sexually abuse children in his care. Thomas Osbeck faces federal charges of illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place and attempt to engage in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place, according to a criminal complaint described by Local 10 News.

Haitian authorities say Osbeck ran an unlicensed home for children in the northern city of Cap-Haitien and that he was taken into custody there on Sept. 30. He was flown to Miami on Wednesday, Oct. 14. Each federal charge carries a possible sentence of up to 30 years in prison. The allegations have not been proven, and Osbeck is presumed innocent.

What the complaint alleges

According to the complaint, the FBI received a tip in March 2025 from a member of a nonprofit anti-trafficking and exploitation organization that Osbeck was suspected of traveling to Haiti to engage in illicit sexual conduct with minors. Agents then interviewed witnesses and potential victims, the complaint states.

FBI Special Agent Cindy Barrois wrote in the complaint that Osbeck had traveled to Haiti repeatedly since the 1990s. According to the complaint, he founded and directed an organization called Jesus in Haiti Ministries in 1998 and resigned in 2015 after being given an ultimatum to step down or stay in Haiti in a different role. A former board member told the FBI he learned of sexual abuse allegations against Osbeck in 2010, the complaint says, though it does not state whether those allegations were reported to U.S. or Haitian authorities.

Osbeck then founded Ignite Your Faith Ministries in Cap-Haitien and opened a residence known as "Tom's House," where, according to the complaint, he took in orphaned and abandoned children. Barrois noted that the organization's website said he had 18 boys in his care and that he was the only non-Haitian staff member on site.

The complaint describes accounts from two alleged victims. One, interviewed by agents in June 2025, said he moved into the home at 13 and that Osbeck subjected him to repeated unwanted touching and sexual advances, including when he was 16. A second, interviewed in August, told investigators that Osbeck sexually abused him from roughly 2004 to 2007, beginning when he was about 8 years old, and used coercion such as withholding privileges and an allowance to force compliance. Other former residents backed up those accounts and described unwanted touching of their own, according to the complaint.

A phone search at Miami International Airport

South Florida figures directly in the investigation. According to the complaint, on June 26, 2025, customs officers searched Osbeck's cellphone after he arrived at Miami International Airport on a flight from Cap-Haitien. The phone held images of index cards with handwritten names and birth dates of what appeared to be Haitian children, along with screenshots of social media images of a teenage resident, the complaint states. Agents obtained a search warrant for the phone on July 10, 2025.

The FBI also said it located one alleged victim after Osbeck sought a foster parent license in Florida and mentioned five young Haitian men he had raised who were living in the United States.

The raid in Cap-Haitien

According to the complaint, on Sept. 30 the Brigade for the Protection of Minors of Haiti's national police and the country's Institute of Social Welfare and Research conducted an operation at the Ignite Your Faith Ministries home. The agencies acted because of multiple reports of alleged child exploitation and because the home had no operating license and had relocated frequently, the complaint says.

Inspectors found the home had no authorization to operate, no legal placement documents, no registry of admitted children and no qualified staff such as social workers or medical personnel, according to the complaint. Fourteen children ages 7 to 17 were found there, including the director's two children. Osbeck and the home's director were taken into custody.

Arold Jean, a spokesperson for the Cap-Haitien police, told The Associated Press that Osbeck lacked the paperwork to operate an orphanage and that a review of his phone revealed explicit messages sent to children. AP reported that Haitian authorities found at least 12 minors at the home. Jean said he expected Osbeck to be sent to the United States.

In court in Miami

At his initial appearance Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Marty Elfenbein, prosecutors asked that Osbeck be held in pretrial detention, Local 10 reported. A detention hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 20, and an arraignment for Oct. 29. Records showed he was being held at the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami as of Friday afternoon.

It was not immediately clear whether Osbeck has a lawyer who could comment on the allegations.

The federal law at issue makes it a crime for a U.S. citizen or resident to travel abroad and engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor, allowing American prosecutors to bring charges for conduct that occurred in another country.

A string of cases involving missionaries in Haiti

Osbeck's case follows several others involving Americans who worked with children in Haiti. Federal agents arrested Maylon Foshee, 23, of Mansfield, Louisiana, in late September, accusing him of illicit sexual conduct with several minors under his care during mission trips to Haiti, Local 10 reported. Foshee faces a charge of engaging in illicit sexual conduct overseas.

In September, former Ohio missionary Jeriah Mast pleaded guilty to molesting two boys in Haiti, according to AP. AP has also reported that a Miami jury last year convicted Michael Geilenfeld of sexually abusing boys at an orphanage he founded in Port-au-Prince.

Why it matters in Florida

South Florida is home to the largest Haitian community in the United States, and many families in Miami-Dade and Broward maintain close ties to relatives, churches and charities in Haiti.

Haitian authorities cited the absence of a license, records and qualified staff as central problems at the Cap-Haitien home. The federal complaint notes that the home had moved frequently since its creation, which Haitian investigators cited as one reason for the September raid.

What's next

A magistrate judge will decide at Tuesday's hearing whether Osbeck remains jailed while the case proceeds. An arraignment, where he would enter a plea, is set for Oct. 29. Haitian authorities have not said what will happen to the children who were living at the home or whether the home's director will face charges in Haiti.