CBC News
April 23, 2010
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2010/04/23/ns-lahey-no-charges-nova-scotia.html
RCMP in Nova Scotia won't lay any criminal charges against former Antigonish bishop Raymond Lahey, who faces child pornography charges in Ontario.
The RCMP said Friday it has concluded its investigation and returned the property it seized to the Roman Catholic diocese.
Members of the RCMP technical crime unit and child exploitation team searched Lahey's former residences in eastern Nova Scotia last October, after Lahey was charged in Ottawa.
Investigators seized two computers and some external media devices from a residence and office in Antigonish on Oct. 13. The next day, they took one computer from Lahey's former home in Sydney.
The RCMP did not give details, but said the searches were sparked by the investigation in Ontario — not any new allegations.
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| Former Antigonish bishop Raymond Lahey appears at his lawyers' offices in Ottawa last October. Photo by Mark Edlesonan Kilpatrick |
Lahey, who previously brokered a $15-million settlement for victims of sexual abuse by priests of the Antigonish diocese, was stopped at the Ottawa airport on Sept. 10. His laptop was seized, but he was allowed to go.
Ten days later, on Sept. 25, Ottawa police charged him with possession of child pornography and importation of child pornography.
Lahey stepped down as bishop of Antigonish the next day. He turned himself in to police on Oct. 1 and was released from custody on $9,000 bail.
Lahey is also accused of fondling a former resident of the infamous Mount Cashel Orphanage in St. John's.
In a civil lawsuit, Todd Boland alleges he was sexually abused over four years in the early 1980s by Lahey, who was a priest in Newfoundland and Labrador before moving to Nova Scotia.
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