Former Haverhill Priest Convicted Of Abuse To Be Freed

SALEM, Mass. (AP) — A former Roman Catholic priest who spent more than a decade in a Massachusetts prison for raping an altar boy will be freed after prosecutors withdrew a civil petition Friday to have him committed as a sexually dangerous person.

Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said he had no choice but to withdraw the petition under state law because two experts who examined Ronald Paquin determined he was no longer sexually dangerous.

"Our contention is that Mr. Paquin poses a danger to the community," Blodgett said. "Unfortunately, we have no further legal options available to hold Mr. Paquin."

Under the law, anyone found sexually dangerous can be civilly committed indefinitely at a state treatment center even after their prison sentence has ended.

It was not immediately clear Friday when Paquin would be released.

Now 72, he was one of the central figures in the Boston Archdiocese's sex abuse scandal. A trial began but did not conclude and he pleaded guilty in December 2002 to child rape charges. Paquin admitted to molesting a boy between 1989 and 1992 while assigned to a Haverhill parish, starting when the boy was 12.

Paquin was sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison, and completed his sentence in May.

Although he was convicted of raping one boy, several other people accused him of molesting them. He was later defrocked by the Vatican. At the trial, Paquin expressed remorse through his lawyer and said that as a teenager, he was abused by a priest.

Paquin's current attorney, David Erickson, did not immediately return a call Friday for comment.

Jeffrey Newman, who represented the victim, declined to comment.

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