MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe
By John R. Ellement GLOBE STAFF OCTOBER 02, 2015
Essex County prosecutors have lost their bid to have Ronald H. Paquin, a former Roman Catholic priest at the center of the abuse scandal in the Boston Archdiocese, confined to a special state facility for sexual predators.
Prosecutors on Friday notified victims of the 72-year-old Paquin that two qualified experts have concluded he is not a sexually dangerous person. If he had been declared sexually dangerous, Paquin could have been civilly committed to the Massachusetts Treatment Center.
Such a designation could potentially have lasted the rest of his life.
“This is a tragedy,’’ said Michael Emerton, who said Paquin sexually assaulted him when he was a teenager attending the Haverhill parish to which Paquin was assigned in the 1980s. “Everyone needs to be vigilant and watch this person.’’
Emerton was one of the victims contacted Friday by Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett’s office, which launched the effort to have Paquin designated as a sexually dangerous person after Paquin finished his sentence in May.
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