RHODE ISLAND
Providence Journal
Sex-abuse cases involving Rhode Island priests
Priest Barry Meehan charged with sexual assault in Cranston and Providence in the 1980s and ’90s
BY W. ZACHARY MALINOWSKI
Journal Staff Writer
bmalinow@providencejournal.com
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A priest was delivered to Superior Court in handcuffs on Friday and charged with five counts of first-degree sexual assault on two alleged victims in the 1980s and early 1990s.
The Rev. Barry Meehan, 65, of 767 Providence St., West Warwick, former pastor of St. Timothy Catholic Church, at 1799 Warwick Ave., in Warwick, pleaded not guilty to the charges through his
The indictment spelling out the charges was unsealed at 12:07 p.m., in the courtroom of Magistrate Patricia Harwood. A clerk declined to release a copy of the indictment to The Providence Journal.
Meehan, an ordinary-looking man with thinning white hair and gold-rimmed glasses, wore a wool coat over a tan cable sweater and gray slacks. Outside the judge’s chambers, he signed several documents with his hands bound in handcuffs.
The statewide grand jury handed up the indictment against Meehan on Wednesday, and it remained sealed until his appearance in Superior Court. According to the indictment, while Meehan was assigned to St. Mary Parish in Cranston between April 17, 1986 and Jan. 25, 1991, he sexually assaulted a boy older than 14 years old. It is further alleged that on or about Jan. 25, 1991 and Aug. 31, 1992, he sexually assaulted another boy older than 14 when he was assigned to St. Augustine Parish in Providence.
One of the alleged victims reported the abuse to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence in December 2012, and the church, in turn, contacted the state police. During the course of their investigation, the state police found a second alleged victim.
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