Church members support convicted child molester

By Kathleen Phalen Tomaselli
Rutland Herald
May 30, 2016

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20160530/THISJUSTIN/305309999

It’s been 22 years since Joseph Angelo Pasquariello was convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child. And in a petition to have his record expunged, the 71-year-old Rutland man said he has turned his life around.

“I am a member of Fellowship Bible Church in Castleton ... I have also completed three years of sex offender treatment,” he said in his request to have his felony record removed. “I have contributed to the community in a positive manner.”

On Tuesday in Rutland criminal court, about 30 members of Pasquariello’s church came to his hearing to support his request.

“His filing has been supported by numerous letters attesting to the defendant’s positive character and how he has turned his life around,” Judge Thomas A. Zonay said. “Defendant is now 71 years old and has not sustained any further convictions.”

Nonetheless, Zonay denied Pasquariello’s petition because Vermont law prohibits it.

“The felony offense which defendant seeks to have expunged is not a qualifying crime,” Zonay said in his decision. “That being the case the court does not have the authority to grant the relief requested.”

According to court documents, Pasquariello was charged in 1994 with one count of aggravated sexual assault on a child and two counts of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child; he was also charged with an additional count of aggravated sexual assault on a child in a separate charge. In a 1995 plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to felony aggravated sexual assault on a child, with the other three counts dismissed.

Pasquariello was sentenced in Rutland criminal court by Judge Francis McCaffrey to 10 to 20 years, all suspended but four years to serve.

In 2004, his probation was dismissed.

This January, he filed his petition to have his record expunged.

The Fellowship Bible Church pastor could not be reached for comment regarding Pasquariello.

There are conflicting expert views on whether child sex offenders will re-offend, with estimated rates ranging from 18 percent to 50 percent. But in a study funded by the National Institute of Justice, the 25-year recidivism rate of 115 predatory child molesters was 52 percent.

In the 1994 arrest affidavit, Rutland City Police were called on July 5, 1994, to investigate a complaint of sexual abuse of a 5-year-old boy who lived in an apartment below Pasquariello on Forest Street.

The boy’s mother told police that when her son visited his friend — a 7-year-old boy who lived with Pasquariello at the time — Pasquariello kissed and inappropriately touched the boy in a sexual manner after pulling down his pants.

According to the Bureau of Justice, in about 60 percent to 70 percent of child sexual abuse cases, the perpetrator is a relative, neighbor, family friend or someone else in regular contact with the child.

In the affidavit, the boy explained to police that after he turned six, the behavior escalated and when the boy resisted, Pasquariello slapped him and threatened to kill him if he told.

In another 1994 charge, with another male child who was 7, police said Pasquariello forced the boy to perform a sex act and also took nude photos of the boy in his apartment at least three times.

Court records indicate that Pasquariello also has a criminal history in New York including an Oct. 28, 1986, conviction on four counts of injuring a child under age 16.

In his written decision to deny Pasquariello’s motion, Zonay said that according to Vermont law, an offense involving the sexual exploitation of children cannot be expunged from a felon’s record.