BELLINGHAM (MA)
Woonsocket Call
JOSEPH B. NADEAU, Staff Writer 02/18/2005
BELLINGHAM -- A decision by a Quebec Court of Appeals upholding the extradition of former Assumption Parish priest Paul M. Desilets to Massachusetts could be the beginning of a resolution of the long-pending child sexual assault case against the priest, according to Detective Sgt. Richard Perry.
"This is substantial," said Perry, who worked with Detective Christopher Ferreira in early 2002 to bring the local charges against the former local priest.
Desilets, now 81, faces 32 counts of sexually abusing altar boys during his service at Assumption between 1974 and 1984. He was indicted by a Worcester County grand jury on the charges in May 2002. He was then arrested by Canadian authorities, at the request of Worcester County District Attorney John Conte in October of that year, but he has resisted his extradition from Canada since that time.
The former Assumption priest had been living with the Clerics of St. Viator in Joliet, Quebec, at the time of his arrest in October and was released by the Quebec Superior Court in Montreal while his appeal of extradition was heard.