BELLINGHAM (MA)
Milford Daily News
By Sara Withee / Daily News Staff
Friday, April 22, 2005
BELLINGHAM -- After three years of battling extradition from Canada on charges of molesting altar boys, the Rev. Paul Desilets has abandoned his fight and is expected to step back on American soil today.
Desilets, 81, is scheduled to arrive at Logan Airport in Boston this afternoon and will face arraignment Monday in Worcester Superior Court on the 32 criminal charges he had sought to avoid, said Bellingham Police Detective Sgt. Richard Perry.
Desilets, a former priest at Our Lady of Assumption Parish in Bellingham, launched his final appeal in the Supreme Court of Canada last month. Then, just days later, he changed course and filed notice he was abandoning his appeal, Worcester District Attorney John Conte said.
Although pleased, Conte said his office kept the development quiet because he was skeptical the fight was really over.