BRIDGEWATER (MA)
Enterprise
By Maureen Boyle, ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER
A former maintenance man at St. Thomas Aquinas parish in Bridgewater was convicted Tuesday of sex-related crimes and ordered to spend a year in jail.
Reed F. Haviland, 53, was convicted in Brockton Superior Court of one count of an unnatural act.
Judge Patrick Brady sentenced Haviland to 2-1/2 years in the House of Correction with one year to serve. Haviland was also ordered to stay way from the victim.
Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz said the guilty verdict followed a four-day trial.
The conviction stemmed from allegations that the defendant was inserting needles or large knitting needles into his body in the presence of a 14-year-old boy, Cruz said.
The incidents occurred in the parish center back room.
At the time of the arrest, Haviland was the first person in Plymouth County affiliated with the church to be charged with a sex crime since the archdiocese became embroiled in its priest abuse scandal.