Cops Charge Episcopal Priest in Sex Assault

By Richard Weir
Boston Herald
September 8, 2012

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1061158806&srvc=rss

An Episcopal priest was arrested yesterday on charges he sexually assaulted a Somerville parishioner over a 10-year span that allegedly began when the young boy was in elementary school, prosecutors said.

The Rev. Paul A. LaCharite, 65, former longtime rector of St. James Episcopal Church near Teele Square, turned himself in to Somerville police who booked him on one count of assault to rape a child and three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child. He faces life in prison if convicted.

LaCharite left St. James in 2005 after 16 years and recently served as priest associate at the Old North Church in Boston's North End.

Police launched an investigation into the priest after the alleged victim came forward this week, according to a joint statement released by Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone and Somerville Police Chief Thomas Pasquarello.

"We allege that this defendant, holding a trusted position within the Episcopal Church, indecently assaulted and touched the victim over several years, only ending his 10-year-long predatory abuse of the victim when the defendant left the church," Leone said.

The alleged abuse began in the 1990s.

The Rev. Canon Mally Lloyd of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts said church leaders were not aware of the investigation until learning of the priest's arrest.

She added: "We take these allegations very seriously. ... We don't know who the victim is but we offer our apologies. It's a terrible thing to happen to any child and family."

Contact: richard.weir@bostonherald.com