A 70-year-old Christian missionary from Florida appeared in federal court in Miami after Haitian authorities detained him over allegations of child sexual abuse at a home he operated in Haiti, according to court records and news reports.
Thomas Osbeck, who public records indicate lives in Fort Myers, faces federal charges of illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place and attempted illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place.
Prosecutors asked a federal magistrate judge to keep him in custody pending a scheduled hearing. Each charge carries a potential prison sentence of up to 30 years, according to the criminal complaint.
According to the Associated Press, the case centers on allegations that Osbeck sexually abused boys living at Tom’s House, a ministry he operated in Cap-Haïtien, Haiti, through Ignite Your Faith Ministries. Investigators also raised concerns about the facility’s operating status and the care provided to children. Former residents reportedly described instances of unwanted sexual contact by Osbeck.
According to court records, Osbeck appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Marty Elfenbein on Thursday. He was scheduled for another hearing the following Tuesday, with an arraignment set for Oct. 29. Records cited in the complaint indicated that he was being held at the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami.
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The allegations first came to the FBI’s attention in March 2025, when a member of a nonprofit organization focused on preventing trafficking and exploitation raised concerns about Osbeck’s trips to Haiti, according to the complaint. FBI agents subsequently interviewed witnesses and individuals who said they had been victimized.
Investigators say Osbeck had traveled to Haiti repeatedly since the 1990s. FBI agents said he founded Jesus in Haiti Ministries in 1998 and led the organization until 2015, when he resigned after receiving what the complaint described as an ultimatum: leave his leadership position or remain in Haiti in another role.
A former board member told investigators he learned of sexual abuse allegations against Osbeck in 2010. The complaint does not establish whether authorities in the United States or Haiti were notified of those earlier allegations.
Osbeck later founded Ignite Your Faith Ministries and opened Tom’s House, where he took in children described as orphaned or abandoned. According to a website cited by FBI Special Agent Cindy Barrois, Osbeck cared for 18 boys at the home.
“According to the website, (Osbeck) had 18 boys in his care and ‘to these kids, he is not just a missionary, he is their Pappy,’” Barrois wrote in the complaint.
Barrois also noted that Osbeck was the facility’s only non-Haitian staff member.
Investigators identified one alleged victim after Osbeck applied for a foster parent license in Florida and referenced five young Haitian men he had raised who were then living in the United States. In June 2025, the man told FBI agents that he moved into Tom’s House at age 13.
According to the complaint, the former resident described repeated instances of unwanted touching. He said Osbeck caressed his back despite being asked to stop and touched his bare chest while he played soccer without a shirt. The complaint also states that Osbeck later sent him a message saying, “I like it when you take your shirt off.”
The man described another encounter when he was 16. Osbeck allegedly called him to his room for a nonalcoholic drink, answered the door wearing only underwear, and blocked him from leaving when he tried to go. The complaint alleges that Osbeck grabbed the teenager’s hand and attempted to force it onto his penis.
After the teenager pulled away and refused, Osbeck allegedly asked, “Oh, you not gonna give me anything before you go to sleep?”
The complaint states that Osbeck then told him, “Just make it hard.”
A second alleged victim described abuse that began during childhood. Investigators interviewed him in August, and he told them that Osbeck made him touch his penis when he was between 8 and 10 years old and forced him to perform another sexual act at age 11, according to the complaint.
The second victim said Osbeck used control over his daily life to pressure him into complying. Barrois wrote that the alleged coercion included withholding money and restricting his ability to go out. When the boy began making bracelets to sell to tourists at age 12, Osbeck allegedly threatened to destroy the small business if he refused sexual demands.
Other witnesses also described alleged inappropriate conduct, including unwanted touching, according to investigators.
The complaint also details a separate account involving a former resident identified as “Witness X.” According to one witness, the boy threatened to take a video allegedly depicting sexual abuse to a journalist unless Osbeck paid him a substantial sum of money.
The witness told the FBI he later saw Osbeck give a check to an unidentified person. He also reported that someone had kidnapped and killed Witness X and that he overheard a discussion about a possible setup at Tom’s House. Another former resident alleged that the home’s director arranged the killings of Witness X and another victim because they were trying to blackmail Osbeck with abuse videos.
The complaint presents these accounts as witness statements; it does not establish in the provided records that the alleged killings occurred as described or identify the people involved by name.
Investigators also questioned whether Tom’s House had legal authority to operate and met basic standards for caring for children.
On Sept. 30, Haiti’s Brigade for the Protection of Minors and the country’s Institute of Social Welfare and Research inspected the Ignite Your Faith Ministries facility in Cap-Haïtien. According to the complaint, officials acted after receiving multiple reports of alleged child exploitation, along with concerns about the home’s lack of authorization and history of relocating.
According to the complaint, investigators found no operating license, formal placement records, or approved procedures for admitting children and reuniting them with families. The facility also lacked a registry of children in its care and qualified staff such as social workers, psychologists, or medical personnel.
Investigators found no evidence of routine medical care, and staff could not identify a facility that provided the medical services the home allegedly offered. The complaint also states that no security personnel were present.
Authorities found 14 children between the ages of 7 and 17 at the facility, including the director’s two children. The complaint described the group as including orphans, children living on the streets, and children who reportedly left their families because of mistreatment.
Investigators also examined Osbeck’s phone after he arrived at Miami International Airport from Cap-Haïtien on June 26, 2025. The complaint says the device contained images of handwritten index cards listing names and birth dates that appeared to belong to Haitian children. Investigators also found photographs and messages involving young males, including one message in which Osbeck allegedly called a recipient “the most handsome son I ever had.”
The FBI later obtained a search warrant for the phone and reviewed additional messages, according to the complaint.
Haitian authorities arrested Osbeck on Sept. 30 and placed him on a flight to Miami the following week, according to the complaint. The facility’s unnamed director was also taken into custody.
