Defrocked priest and convicted child rapist Paul Shanley released from prison, to settle in Ware

By Patrick Johnson
MassLive
July 28, 2017

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/07/defrocked_priest_and_convicted.html

Paul Shanley, the defrocked Roman Catholic priest who served 12 years in prison following a 2005 conviction for child rape has been released from prison and will take up residence in the town of Ware.

The state's Sex Offenders Registry Board disclosed that Shanley, 86, will take up residence in an apartment at 31 Pulaski St. in Ware.

As a result of his conviction, Shanley, 86, has been declared by the registry board to be a level 3 sex offender, the designation given to offenders who are considered most likely to reoffend.

As a level 3 offender, Shanley for the rest of his live will have to register with the local police each year or every time moves to a new address. His public file with the SORB is already updated to show his Ware address.

Shanley was convicted in 2005 for indecent assault and battery on a child younger than 14 and rape of a child, and was sentenced to 12 to 15 years in state prison. He was convicted of raping a boy that he came in contact with through religious education classes in Newton.

Shanley was at the center of the controversy in the early 2000s involving pedophile priests throughout the Boston archdiocese that was exposed by the Boston Globe Spotlight team.

It was announced this week that he had completed his sentence and was to be released from the Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater on Friday. As part of his release, he is to be on probation for the next 10 years. 

The Globe cites Ware selectwoman and town clerk Nancy J. Talbot who expressed concerns about Shanley moving to town but said she feels confident state officials have take proper steps to keep the public and Shanley protected.