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	Mass. Priest Charged in Alleged Prostitution Sting NECN April 13, 2010 http://www.necn.com/04/13/10/Mass-Priest-charged-in-alleged-prostitut/landing_newengland.html?blockID=215699&feedID=4206 [with video] A Massachusetts priest has been charged in an alleged prostitution sting. Father William Ventura is now taking a leave of absence from his parish. Ventura is one of eight men arrested in New Hampshire on Friday after they allegedly responded to a Craigslist solicitation. We're hearing disbelief from parishioners tonight and praise for Father Ventura as a compassionate priest wise beyond his years. "I'm kind of surprised, yeah, I wouldn't have expected it," said parishioner Dave Sleeper. What he wouldn't have expected are the allegations against a Roman Catholic Priest, praised for his work at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Chelmsford, Massachusetts who has been arrested and charged with soliciting a prostitute. Thirty one year old Reverend William Ventura was arrested Friday in a sting at a hotel in Nashua, New Hampshire along with seven other men. Police say the men responded to a listing on Craigslist. All eight have posted bail. Father Ventura had been serving as parochial vicar at St. John's. We went to the parish address listed for him in North Chelmsford, but no one answered the door. The Archdiocese of Boston said in a statement that "Rev. William Ventura has voluntarily accepted a leave of absence and restriction from public ministry as a result of his arrest. This leave of absence will remain in effect while the case is investigated and adjudicated. " Sleeper has been coming to St. John's for about five years and has always thought highly of Father Ventura. "My son just enrolled in the C.C.D. program this year and he just seems like a nice guy, kind of a role model, the type you'd want to look up to," Sleeper said. A biography on the Boston Archdiocese newspaper, The Pilot, says he grew up in Derry, New Hampshire, that he was ordained about four years ago, and was a deacon at St. Joseph's Parish in Needham before coming to St. John's. Father Ventura is scheduled to be arraigned a week from Thursday. A Class A misdemeanor is punishable by up to a year in jail.
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