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	Priest Charged with Child Abuse By Ron Cassie Frederick News-Post July 4, 2008 http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=77108 A former Germantown priest, who was at the center of a $1.2 million civil settlement with an Urbana family last year, was charged Tuesday with child abuse in connection with allegations made in that suit. Those allegations of sexual abuse were made in 2003 by a former altar boy, now 21. The Rev. Aaron Joseph Cote, who pleaded not guilty, is a member of the Dominican Fathers and Brothers Province of St. Joseph in New York City. He turned himself in to Montgomery County Police and was being held at the Montgomery County Detention Center on $250,000 bail. His attorney, Terrance McGann, did not return calls Thursday for comment and Cote's Dominican order in Manhattan could not be reached. Cote worked at two parishes in the Washington Archdiocese, St. Jane Frances de Chantal Parish in Bethesda and Mother Seton Parish in Germantown. The civil case was brought in 2005 by Brandon Rains, a former altar boy at Mother Seton. "It has been a long time, but we are very encouraged that criminal charges were finally made," said Joe McMorrow, Rains' step-father. "Hopefully, he will be taken off the street." The civil action revealed allegations of inappropriate conduct toward young boys dating back to the 1980s, much of it documented in Cote's Dominican order files. The archdiocese stated in a press release Wednesday that it had no knowledge of wrongdoing by Cote before accepting him for ministry, and had received good references from the Dominicans. Though named in the civil suit, the archdiocese was not part of the financial settlement. According to Montgomery County Police, Cote met regularly with Rains, then 14, in 2001, and brought him to his Georgetown apartment. On several occasions, police said, Cote engaged in personal sexual activity in the victim's presence and in inappropriate touching of Rains. The alleged abuse continued for about a year. The abuse was reported to a therapist when Rains was in substance abuse treatment. Rains lives in Florida. Barbara Blaine, president and founder of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said Rains' case is exceptional because he reported the abuse at a relatively young age. The average age for a victim to report childhood sexual abuse is 42, she said. His attorney, Jeff Anderson, said when Rains reported his accusations to police five years ago, "it was just a kid's word against an adult." Anderson said Rains is prepared to testify at trial. Cote was also sued in April for molesting two Springfield, Mass., brothers in 2003, when the alleged victims were less than 5 years old.
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