ORFORD (NH)
Marblehead Current [Marblehead MA]
April 8, 2025
A man who says a former Marblehead priest raped him on a trip to a Boy Scout camp in Orford, New Hampshire, in 1976 was one of five witnesses to testify on the first day of the Rev. Richard Losch’s criminal trial April 8.
At Grafton Superior Court in New Hampshire, the alleged victim, now 64, testified that Losch invited him and three other Marblehead boys to the Indian Pond Boy Scout camp, where Losch was the director. The camp had not yet opened for the season. No other adults were invited.
(In keeping with Current policy, this article will not reveal the identity of an alleged victim of sexual assault. He will be referred to as Jack.)
After they arrived, Losch, who also served as a Tower School assistant headmaster and Boy Scout leader, informed Jack that they would be sharing a bed in a cabin, Jack said. Jack believes the other boys had their own beds.
“He was in the bed, lying behind me,” Jack said of Losch. “I woke up and his hand was in the front of my underwear. He was fondling my genitals. I was incredibly afraid. I was terrified … so I did everything I could to make him think I was asleep.”
Jack continued: “Then he pulled my underwear down. He put one arm around my chest and his other hand over my mouth. He pulled me against him and be began to rape me.”
Losch declined to comment outside court on Tuesday. He told the Current in 2023, “On the advice of my attorney, I have no comment to make other than that the charge is totally false, and I deny all allegations of wrongdoing.”
‘Fear and shame’
Jack testified Tuesday that he didn’t tell anyone what had happened at Indian Pond for years. He was asked by prosecutor Antonia Barry why.
“Fear and shame,” Jack answered. “Fear that Losch would hurt me, that he would be believed over me. And shame that I had been raped.”
Jack said he told his brother about Losch a few years later. In 2020, he filed a claim with the Boy Scouts, reporting the abuse. Later, he talked to his pastor, the Rev. James Bixby of Clifton Lutheran Church in Marblehead, and the two went to report the alleged rape to Marblehead Police in November 2021. Bixby testified on Tuesday, along with Marblehead Police Sgt. Detective Sean Brady.
‘Beyond a reasonable doubt’
During opening statements, Losch’s attorney, Michael Iacopino, told the jury that it was up to the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Losch raped Jack on that night 50 years ago. He pointed out that Jack did not include the rape (only the fondling) in his report to the Boy Scouts.
Marblehead ties
Losch was a priest at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Marblehead from 1969 to 1986, where Jack often attended services with a friend in the ‘70s. Losch worked at the Tower School from 1969 to 1983. He later moved to Alabama where he served as a priest.
‘Pure evil’
In what he calls a survivor impact statement, Jack wrote, “What FL (Father Losch) did to me was pure evil. Evil that forever changed who I was and who I would become. It instantly ended my childhood. It permanently changed the physical structure of my brain. It shattered my little boy’s soul.”
Jack continued, “I often feel afraid. I am claustrophobic. I have night terrors. I have flashbacks. I am terrified of suffocation. When emotions overwhelm me, I disassociate. For a significant periods of my life, I abused ETOH [alcohol] and/or other substances.
Jack added, “I was betrayed by my teacher, my Scout leader and my chaplain, a priest. Much later, I would realize that I was also betrayed by the church, my school and the Scouts.”
In 1986, Losch left the area and moved south. He worked as a principal and math teacher at two schools in North Carolina and became a rector at St. James Episcopal Church in Livingston, Alabama.
The Episcopal Church in Alabama told the Current that it had launched what is called a Title IV investigation into Losch.
“The Diocese instituted its Title IV process under Episcopal Church Canons on learning of certain allegations against Richard Losch. This process is ongoing and confidential,” Debbie Donaldson, missioner of communications for the Alabama Diocese, wrote in a December 2023 email. She declined to say when that investigation started.
“He is no longer serving as a priest in our diocese, but we cannot comment further on this matter due to the confidential nature of the ongoing Title IV investigation,” she added. She did not respond to requests for an update this month.
Marblehead Police Chief Dennis King said in December 2023 he didn’t believe anyone else in Marblehead had made an accusation against Losch.
“To my knowledge, we have had nobody else come forward, and I wouldn’t state there is a concern that there are other victims,” said Police Chief Dennis King. “But I would encourage any victim of sexual abuse to come forward and would not rule out there being other victims based on the type of crime that allegedly was committed.”
Jack lived most of his life in Marblehead, before moving to North Carolina four months ago. The trial continues Wednesday, April 9.