Updated

A judge has ruled that statements from almost four dozen victims of sexual abuse at a center for poor children in Haiti can be used at the sentencing hearing of a Michigan man.

Matthew Andrew Carter was convicted in February on five counts of traveling from Florida to Haiti for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity with minors, and one count of attempting child sex tourism.

Carter ran the Morning Star Center in Haiti from 1995 until his arrest at Miami International Airport in 2011.

His attorneys have described him as a military veteran who wanted to lift Haitian children out of poverty.

Carter's attorneys had objected to the U.S. government's plans to submit letters from 45 victims at his sentencing hearing that continues Wednesday morning. The judge ruled Tuesday they could be used.