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	Priest Charged with Sex Abuse of Altar Boy Surrenders to Police Examiner July 3, 2008 http://www.examiner.com/a-1470763~Priest_charged_with_sex_abuse_of_altar_boy_surrenders_to_police.html?cid=temp-popular WASHINGTON (Map, News) - A Catholic priest who previously worked in youth ministry and religious education at churches in Germantown and Bethesda turned himself in to police Tuesday evening in Montgomery County after being charged with abusing a former altar boy. The Rev. Aaron Joseph Cote, 56, worked part time in youth ministry at Mother Seton Parish in Germantown between 1999 and 2002 and part time in religious education at Bethesda's St. Jane Frances de Chantal Parish between 1997 and 1999. Police allege Cote engaged in "inappropriate touching of" and "inappropriate personal sexual activity" in the presence of a then-14-year-old victim, who was seeing Cote for counseling. Police say Cote first brought the child to a Germantown apartment during the summer of 2001, and the abuse continued for about a year. The alleged victim's attorney, Jeff Anderson, said his client revealed the abuse while undergoing later counseling. His family first notified the police in 2003, but police spokeswoman Lucille Baur said because the incidents happened in private, they were difficult to confirm. "We have to be able to substantiate with evidence before we can charge an individual," Baur said. In 2005, the alleged victim filed a civil lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Washington and the Dominican Order, saying church leaders knew Cote was a "threat to kids" yet continued to keep him in the ministry. The Archdiocese of Washington, whose officials say they relied on background checks by the Dominican Order before accepting him for work, was released of any liability. The Dominican Order paid the victim a $1.2 million settlement in 2007. "I am deeply concerned by the deceit and secrecy of the Dominican Order," Anderson said. "For 20 years they knew about these allegations and had him working in five states and two different countries, never doing anything." In April of this year, Cote was sued by the family of two Springfield, Mass., brothers whose parents allege he molested them in 2003 when they were less than 5 years old. A man who answered the phone at the Dominican Order's New York City headquarters told The Examiner that Cote had never been defrocked and refused further comment on the case. Contact: kmiller@dcexaminer.com
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