NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- A United States district courtroom in New Haven was packed with supporters for Douglas Perlitz on Thursday.

Perlitz is accused of sexually abusing nine students at a school that he founded in Haiti. At his arraignment and detention hearing on Thursday, he plead not guilty.

In addition to calling the case circumstantial, Perlitz’s attorney said that his family offered $2 million worth of property to secure his release until trial, and a Fairfield family would let Perlitz stay with them under house arrest with an ankle bracelet.

The assistant U.S. Attorney said that he should not be released because since he had been forced out of the Haitian school, he remained in contact with former pupils, visiting them in the Dominican Republic.

The judge wants to hear more from both sides, with a higher amount of money posted for Perlitz to be released. The detention hearing was continued until the end of October.