Former Maine priest pleads guilty to sex assault of boy, confronted by victim in court

PORTLAND (ME)
Bangor Daily News

September 24, 2018

By Jake Bleiberg

A former Catholic priest, who already served prison time for molesting boys in Massachusetts, pleaded guilty Monday to sexually assaulting a 9-year-old boy in Freeport in the late 1990s.

A judge sentenced James F. Talbot, 80, to 10 years in prison with all but three of those suspended for sexually assaulting a minor under the age of 14, and three years, to be served at the same time, for unlawful sexual contact with a minor under the age of 14.

The boy Talbot molested, now a 30-year-old man, told a Portland court that the former priest stole his childhood and his faith. “What was supposed to be a man from God … turned out to be a disgusting animal,” he said.

The boy’s parents, who said they were married by Talbot, also spoke before his sentencing, with his mother calling him “the definition of evil.”

“I hope you rot in hell and I hope you die in jail,” the boy’s father said, turning to the former priest. “How can the Catholic Church allow this stuff to go on?”

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