Perrault's Life in Morocco Years after St. Francis

By Michael Dooling
Republican-American
July 28, 2016

http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2016/05/23/news/local/958779.txt

A quarter century after he fled New Mexico, and 51 years since he left Naugatuck, Arthur Perrault is no longer a priest with the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.

"His faculties have been revoked," said Santa Fe's former archdiocesan chancellor, the Rev. Timothy Martinez, when contacted several years ago.

The archdiocese was asked for, but did not provide, a list of parishes where Perrault served.

The Rev. Thomas Zotter, who replaced Perrault as St. Bernadette's pastor, told the Republican-American that the late Helen M. Keller, who had served both priests as an assistant, once mailed something to Perrault with an address in Morocco.

Perrault's signature is on file with the Bernalillo County Clerk's Office in New Mexico, after he needed to sell a house he owned in Albuquerque in 1994. He sold it to his assistant, Keller, and her husband. The 20-year mortgage he held provided a monthly payment to him of $469.69, according to the records.

The contract was signed by Perrault and notarized in Gibraltar, a British territory at the southern tip of Spain and is a short ferry ride from Tangier, Morocco.

After Helen Keller died in 2003 her brother, Richard Rawe, was appointed personal representative in her will. To sell her house, the county required a replacement warranty deed signed by Perrault; again his signature was notarized in Gibraltar. Rawe told the Republican-American in an email that once the deed was signed, it was transmitted to him through an intermediary named Dan Paulos.

Paulos, a religious artist and director of the Shrine of St. Bernadette where Perrault had been pastor, was a friend of Keller and Perrault, Rawe said.

Recently Paulos said of Perrault, "I have no idea what he did after he left." When asked if he transmitted a document from Perrault to Richard Rawe in 2003, he said he had no involvement.

THE AMERICAN CONSULATE IN CASABLANCA told the Republican-American they could not provide his personal information to a reporter, but they could relay the newspaper's contact information to Perrault. "He did not respond to many calls we made to his phone," the consulate reported a few days later.

Two weeks ago Albuquerque attorney Brad Hall, who represents one of Perrault's alleged victims, located the missing priest. He received an anonymous tip from someone in Morocco that Perrault was living and working there. Always surrounding himself with children, he was reported to be teaching at the American Language Center in Tangier. Hall mailed him a copy of the latest civil suit against him along with a legal summons.

Perrault has not yet responded, Hall said.

In a series of emails with the Republican-American, Mark Holbrook, director of the American Language Center, confirmed that Perrault was employed there.

"The teacher who until last week worked with us and who we recently discovered has a history of child abuse is named Arthur Perrault — at least that is the name everyone here knew him by and that's the name that appears on his Moroccan identity card," Holbrook said in an email.

"On May 3rd, he voluntarily brought to our attention a civil suit being filed against him in the US, and he was asked for his immediate resignation, to which he agreed. He no longer works at the ALC in Tangier and is not allowed on the grounds of this or any other ALC in Morocco."

"We have spoken with the local police and I believe Mr. Perrault is now very much 'on their radar,'" Holbrook said