MASSACHUSETTS
Wicked Local Winchester
By Jennifer Brown Bonniwell
Wicked Local Winchester
Posted Apr 30, 2012
Winchester, MA —
The Archdiocese of Boston has completed its internal investigation of sexual abuse of a minor by former St. Mary’s of Winchester Rev. John M. Mendicoa and has determined the allegation to be unsubstantiated, the Archdiocese said Monday.
Mendicoa was placed on administrative leave in August 2011, after the Archdiocese received an allegation of sexual abuse of a child. Mendicoa is no longer on administrative leave and has now been assigned the status of senior priest, restricted, the Archdiocese said in a statement. The status is equivalent to retirement.
The allegation concerned conduct alleged to have occurred in the 1980s. Mendicoa was a pastor at St. Mary’s in Winchester from 1986 to 1994 and at St. Michael’s in Lowell from 1982 to 1986. The Archdiocese declined to say if the incident occurred in Winchester or Lowell or any further details about the victim, citing internal policy.
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