PORTLAND (ME)
The Associated Press
September 24, 2018
A former Roman Catholic priest who sexually abused a 9-year-old boy at a Maine church in the 1990s is going back to prison.
A former Roman Catholic priest who sexually abused a 9-year-old boy at a Maine church in the 1990s is going back to prison after pleading guilty on Monday.
James Talbot, 80, pleaded guilty to gross sexual assault and unlawful sexual contact under a plea agreement. He will serve three years in prison.
The charges involve a victim whose family were parishioners at St. Jude Church when Talbot was a substitute priest. The victim said in an affidavit in a civil case that Talbot befriended his family and offered religious instruction to him.
Another of Talbot’s accusers, Michael Doherty, of St. Petersburg, Florida, attended Monday’s court appearance to show solidarity with the victim. Doherty settled a lawsuit against Talbot years ago. The Associated Press typically doesn’t identify victims of sexual assault unless they come forward publicly, as Doherty has done.
“A civil suit doesn’t give you that moment where they take him away in handcuffs,” Doherty said.
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