Victim Speaks out about Alleged Abuse by Ex-priest

By Max Sullivan
Seacoast Online
February 9, 2017

http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/20170209/victim-speaks-out-about-alleged-abuse-by-ex-priest

A Seabrook man says he was molested by former Catholic priest Ronald Paquin 30 years ago on camping trips to Maine, leading to the former priest's indictment this week.

Keith Townsend, 42, of Amesbury Street, is one of two victims Paquin, 74, is alleged to have molested between 1985 and 1989. Paquin, formerly of the Boston archdiocese, served prison time for abusing an altar boy from 1989 to 1992 while serving as associate pastor of St. John the Baptist Church in Haverhill, Mass. He pleaded guilty to charges in relation to those crimes in 2002 and was released in 2015.

Paquin was indicted Tuesday by a York County grand jury on 29 new counts of sexual misconduct for allegedly abusing the victims in Kennebunkport. Townsend said he reached out to police after Paquin was released from prison, leading to the indictments.

Townsend said he was molested by Paquin approximately between the ages of 8 and 13. He said Paquin used alcohol and drugs to control and sedate him during the period of abuse. He said he was one of about 10 other young boys abused together during trips to a camp in Kennebunkport, Maine, all of whom he said were close friends. Most were emotionally devastated by the abuse and turned to drugs as result.

"It was like somebody dropped a bomb on our neighborhood and everybody was killed," said Townsend. "When they released him, (I felt) simple outrage. Nobody is safe as long as this guy's on the street."

Contact: msullivan@seacoastonline.com