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	Former Priest Pleads Guilty to Sexual Offences By Benjamin Shingler Telegraph-Journal October 29, 2009 http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/rss/article/839644 An 83-year-old former priest from Tracadie-Sheila has pleaded guilty to 19 sex-related offences involving 14 different boys. Levi Noel appeared in a Tracadie-Sheila courtroom Wednesday to face charges including gross indecency and indecent assault on a minor. "He pleaded guilty to all of them," said Const. Francois Poirier. Noel will be appearing in court again Jan. 20 for victim impact statements and sentencing is expected to be handed down two days later. The investigation was launched in May 2008 after one alleged victim came forward to report incidents that occurred between 1958 and 1968. The alleged offences all occurred in the Acadian Peninsula. Noel has since moved to Quebec. Poirier said the police investigation is ongoing. RCMP believe there may be other victims, and are asking people to come forward. Vicar General Wesley Wade of the Bathurst Diocese released a statement about the accusations against Noel in July. "It is with great concern that we have learned that he has been accused by the police for acts of a sexual nature," Wade said. "Reverend Noel has been absent from the diocese for over thirty years and hasn't exercised his priestly ministry for many years."
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