PROVIDENCE (RI)
Providence Journal
01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, September 7, 2005
BY ZACHARY R. MIDER
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE -- A Roman Catholic priest yesterday drew three years in prison for raping two altar boys at a Cranston church, marking the first time in 19 years that a priest of the Diocese of Providence has been sent to prison for sex abuse.
Under a plea deal, the Rev. Daniel M. Azzarone Jr. pleaded no contest to two counts of first-degree sexual assault, admitting he coerced the boys, then 16, to have sex with him at the rectory of St. Mary Church.
Both accusers addressed the priest in court yesterday, describing how his betrayal spawned other troubles: drug abuse, family problems, a badly shaken faith.
"I do not see how you can go on, knowing what you've done to me," said one of the accusers, now 20 and a college student.
Once a popular assistant pastor at St. Mary's known for his theatrical Masses, Father Azzarone, 54, had nothing to say in settling the nearly four-year-old criminal case.