An American founder of a Haitian orphanage who is accused of forcing four boys who lived in the institution to engage in sexual acts more than a decade ago will remain behind bars for now even though a magistrate judge in Colorado ruled Thursday that he should be sent to live in a halfway house.

Federal prosecutors said they would appeal the decision to a federal judge in Florida, where Michael Geilenfeld was indicted last month and accused of traveling from Miami to Haiti between 2010 and 2016 “for the purpose of engaging in any illicit sexual conduct with another person under 18.” The charge he faces carries a penalty of up to 30 years in prison.

Magistrate Judge Scott Varholak said his order to release Geilenfeld, 71, would not take effect until a judge in Florida rules on the matter.

Geilenfeld, who has faced past accusations of abusing boys, has been held in a suburban Denver federal prison since his Jan. 20 arrest in Colorado. He told Varholak earlier that he was being held in isolation and only allowed out of his cell for two hours every morning.

His attorney, Brian Leedy, told Varholak that Geilenfeld had the support of a “large community of individuals” who have supported him for 20 years and would help him get back and forth to court dates in Florida. Leedy did not immediately respond to a phone call and email seeking comment.

Prosecutors argued that Geilenfeld, who they say allegedly abused about 20 children over decades, could try to intimidate his victims if he is freed and poses a flight risk since, given his age, a conviction could put him behind bars for the rest of his life.

Geilenfeld has a pattern of bribing and threatening people when he is investigated, according to Jessica Urban of the Justice Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.

Varholak called the allegations against Geilenfeld “beyond troubling” but said the government had not provided enough details to show he had actually threatened anyone or that he committed abuse since the time alleged in the indictment over a decade ago. Under his stayed order, Geilenfeld would be put on home detention in the halfway house and outfitted with a GPS monitor.