Former missionary charged with sexually abusing children in Haiti while serving with Ohio-based ministry
Federal indictment follows earlier conviction for similar crimes in Ohio
A former Ohio missionary who recently gained early release from prison now faces federal charges for allegedly sexually abusing multiple children in Haiti over a nearly two-decade span.
Jeriah Mast, 44, of Millersburg, Ohio, was indicted Tuesday on federal charges of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with four different minors in Haiti between 2002 and 2019. The charges come just weeks after Mast received early release from a nine-year prison sentence for sexually abusing two minors in Ohio.
“Crimes against children, like those mentioned in these allegations, are reprehensible,” said U.S. Attorney David M. Toepfer for the Northern District of Ohio. “Such appalling and morally corrupt behavior will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Federal authorities arrested Mast on November 5, with arraignment scheduled for Thursday in federal court in Cleveland. The charges stem from a U.S. law prohibiting citizens from “traveling in foreign commerce and engaging in any illicit sexual conduct with another person,” according to court filings.
This isn’t Mast’s first encounter with the legal system. In 2019, he pleaded guilty in Holmes County court to sexually abusing two minors in Ohio, resulting in a nine-year prison sentence. He served just under six years before receiving early judicial release in October.
Disturbing pattern of abuse across borders
The scope of the allegations is staggering. During his 2019 case, Mast — who worked for the Millersburg-based Christian Aid Ministries — admitted to authorities that he had abused approximately 30 victims in Haiti and additional victims in Ohio.
Court documents paint a troubling picture of predatory behavior. One documented victim was a 13-year-old boy whom Mast met through his missionary work and allegedly molested in a tent, according to the criminal complaint filed by Special Agent Jason M. Guyton of Homeland Security Investigations.
Details from Mast’s 2019 confession to Holmes County authorities indicate many if not all of his reported victims in Haiti were boys, with the abuse spanning from approximately 2003 to 2019.
Why was Mast released early from his Ohio prison sentence? The judge who granted the early release, retired Judge Edward Emmett O’Farrell of Tuscarawas County, cited Mast’s “exemplary record” behind bars and “most importantly, the Defendant’s stated and demonstrated remorse for the crimes he committed, and the emotional and psychological pain and suffering he inflicted upon the child victims and their families in this case.”
As a condition of his release, Mast was placed on three years’ supervised probation and required to complete an intensive supervision program, including sex-offender specific programming.
Ministry’s knowledge of abuse raises questions
The case has raised serious questions about oversight at Christian Aid Ministries (CAM). In 2019, the organization placed two of its managers on leave following revelations that they knew as early as 2013 that Mast had confessed to sexual activity with young men, yet kept him on the job.
This isn’t the first time CAM’s work in Haiti has made headlines. The ministry’s operations in Haiti came into the spotlight in 2021 when 17 missionaries and their children were kidnapped by a gang. They were eventually freed, with CAM acknowledging that some were ransomed by a third party.
Just yesterday, Joly Germine, alleged founder and leader of the gang responsible for those kidnappings, was sentenced in federal court in Washington to life in prison for orchestrating the abduction.
As Mast faces federal charges that could result in decades behind bars, the communities he served — both in Ohio and Haiti — continue to grapple with the aftermath of betrayed trust and the long shadow of abuse that allegedly spanned continents.
