Former NH Priest to Plead Guilty to Theft Charges, Face Time in Jail

By By Joseph G. Cote
Nashua Telegraph
February 4, 2014

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/1027978-469/former-nh-priest-to-plead-guilty-to.html#

A former high-ranking official for the Roman Catholic Bishop of Manchester will plead guilty to stealing from his employer and a Manchester hospital, according to state law enforcement officials.

Monsignor Edward Arsenault III is scheduled to plead guilty to three counts of theft at hearing in April, according to a release issued Monday by Attorney General Joseph Foster and U.S. Attorney John Kacavas.

Arsenault, who held several senior positions in New Hampshire from 1999-2009, will admit to stealing from the Roman Catholic Bishop in Manchester between Jan. 1, 2005, and March 15, 2013; from Catholic Medical Center in Manchester from Feb. 1, 2009, to June 30, 2010; and from the estate of Monsignor John Molan between June 13, 2010, and Feb. 8, 2012. Each of the counts accuse Arsenault of taking more than $1,500, according to officials.

Arsenault left the diocese in 2009 to become the president and CEO of Saint Luke Institute in Maryland. He resigned from that post in May when New Hampshire officials said they were investigating allegations involving an inappropriate adult relationship and misuse of church funds.

CMC hired Arsenault as a consultant in 2009, after he had left the hospital’s board of directors, and parted ways with him in 2010. CMC officials asked the AG to review the contract in April after finding indications Arsenault had made “improper financial transactions” using diocesan funds, according to a statement issued Monday by Dr. Joseph Pope, the hospital’s president and CEO, and Joseph Graham, former chairman of the hospital’s board of directors.

“We look forward to a full public disclosure at the conclusion of the Attorney General’s investigation,” the state’s top prosecutors said in the statement while also declining to comment further.

In New Hampshire, Arsenault had been former Bishop John McCormack’s top lieutenant, handling the clergy sexual abuse crisis and being responsible for the church’s new child protection policies.

Arsenault reached a plea deal with prosecutors that will see him sent to prison for up to four years. He plans to plead guilty to all three theft charges, two of which carry a four- to 10-year sentence. Two years of each will be suspended “in recognition of the extensive cooperation of the defendant,” according to officials.

A third charge carries a one- to two-year sentence and will be served concurrently. Arsenault also will have to pay restitution, according to officials.

The state’s investigation is continuing, according to officials, but its look into Arsenault’s criminal conduct is finished.

Arsenault is scheduled to plead guilty on April 23 at Hillsborough County Superior Court in Manchester.