September 10, 2026
Former American missionary Jeriah Mast pleaded guilty, Tuesday, September 8, 2026, before a federal court in Cleveland, to two charges related to sexual abuse committed against boys in Haiti. Aged 45 and originally from Millersburg, Ohio, Mast had carried out several missions in the country between 2002 and 2019, notably with the organization Christian Aid Ministries.
The case, however, goes beyond the two acts retained in his plea, since Mast had admitted to investigators, in 2019, to having sexually assaulted more than 30 boys in Haiti as well as four children in Ohio. The federal indictment concerned four boys in Haiti, whose acts would have been committed in 2004, 2007 and 2011, but the agreement reached with prosecutors covers two of these cases.
This federal procedure comes after a first conviction of Mast in Ohio, where he had received nine years in prison in 2019 for acts of sexual abuse against two boys. Released early in October 2025 by judicial decision, he had been placed on probation, which led federal authorities to accelerate their investigation into the acts committed in Haiti.
The plea provides for a sentence of between 25 and 33 years in prison, but the final decision will rest with Judge Donald C. Nugent, who must pronounce the sentence on December 15, 2026. The case has also revived questions about how Christian Aid Ministries officials had responded to the accusations, the organization having acknowledged that two of its officials had been informed as early as 2013 of Mast’s conduct, while he continued his missionary activity.
