Essex D.a Wants Former Priest Held As "Sexually Dangerous"

By Dave Canton
MassLive
July 25, 2015

http://www.masslive.com/news/boston/index.ssf/2015/07/essex_da_wants_former_priest_h.html

The first Catholic priest convicted and jailed for sex abuse is about to be released from state prison.

Now 72-years-old, Ronald Paquin has served 12 of his 12 to 15 year sentence for raping and molesting an altar boy more than 50 times over a three-year period.

But, the Eagle Tribune reports that Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett says Paquin is still too dangerous to walk the streets. He wants the former priest held in Bridgewater State Hospital.

A spokeswoman for Blodgett said state law allows for petitions to hold released prisoners indefinitely as "sexually dangerous persons."

During his trial in Salem Superior Court, Paquin told the court that he abused boys and teens all through his career as a priest; when he was at St. Monica's in Metheun from 1974 to 1980 and the nine years he spent as pastor of St. John The Baptist in Haverhill. But he said, he too was abused by another priest.

Paguin cooperated with prosecutors, which brought him a reduced sentence. Prosecutors wanted him held for 60 years at his 2003 conviction.

Despite a continuous pattern of molestation and rape over the course of decades, Paguin was convicted in one case, the only case prosecutors could find that fell within the statute of limitations.

Contact: dcanton@repub.com