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Former Priest Accused of Raping Boy Decades Ago Appears in Court

WCVB
September 28, 2016

http://www.wcvb.com/news/former-priest-accused-of-raping-boys-decades-ago-to-appear-in-court/41861866

A former priest accused of child rape and assaults he allegedly committed while he was an altar boy coordinator at a Dorchester church faced charges Wednesday.

Michael Walsh, 79, was arraigned Suffolk Superior Court on two counts of rape of a child and three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child.

Walsh pleaded not guilty and was released on personal recognizance.

Officials said Walsh allegedly committed the assaults against one boy during the late 1980s and early 1990s while at St Brendan's. Previously, Walsh was a layman at St. Francis de Sales Church in Charlestown. Walsh later became a priest but was relieved of those duties in 2002.

Walsh's accuser, a 38-year-old man who does not want to be identified, said he was in fourth grade when the abuse began.

"I never thought I would come forward. I thought it would be just something I lived with and deal with as I have for 27 years, but I have 10 nieces and nephews and looking at them, seeing them, I would never want something that happened to me happen to them," the man said.

He said he hoped that if there are more victims, this gives them the courage to come forward, as well.

"I hope he is prosecuted and goes to jail for it, and that this doesn't happen to anyone else," the man said.

Suffolk prosecutors were able to bring the charges, in part, because Walsh spent many years in Florida and Michigan, tolling the statute of limitations.

 

 

 

 

 




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