ALBUQUERQUE (NM)
Albuquerque Journal via Military.com
September 14, 2019
By Colleen Heild
Santa Fe – Former Albuquerque priest Arthur Perrault is expected to spend the rest of his life in prison for aggravated sexual assault of an altar boy in the early 1990s, after a riveting hearing Friday in which a federal judge imposed a 30-year sentence and insisted Perrault stand and face one of the multiple victims he abused decades ago.
“I have to say Mr. Perrault that this is the worst case that I have ever handled and ever seen,” said U.S. District Judge Martha Vazquez, noting that she has presided over many sexual abuse cases in her 26 years as a judge in Santa Fe. “I’m glad you are looking at me, because it is extremely difficult to speak to someone and to try to explain one’s sentiments and have that person not give you the respect of looking at them.”
In a rare federal criminal prosecution, Perrault was convicted by a jury in April of seven counts of sexual abuse related to a former altar boy at St. Bernadette’s parish in Albuquerque who once considered the priest his “best friend.”
The sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Martha Vazquez is considered a life sentence due to Perrault’s advanced age of 81. The term was the maximum he could have received after his jury conviction in April in U.S. District Court in Santa Fe.
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