Former US missionary gets 40 years for child sexual abuse

MIAMI – An Arkansas man has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for sexually abusing children while working as a missionary in Haiti.

A U.S. Department of Justice news release says 36-year-old Daniel Pye was sentenced Wednesday. He was convicted in November of three counts of travelling in foreign commerce with the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor.

Pye operated an orphanage in Jacmel, Haiti, from 2006 to 2012. He became well-known among missionaries and helped co-ordinate relief efforts after the 2010 earthquake. Authorities say Pye regularly abused female residents of his orphanage, including girls as young as 6.

Pye was jailed for about five months in Haiti in 2011 amid a dispute with members of his U.S.-based mission over property belonging to their home for children.