PROVIDENCE (RI)
Providence Journal [Providence RI]
October 15, 2026
By Wheeler Cowperthwaite and Katherine Gregg
A bombshell report released in March by Attorney General Peter Neronha named 75 Diocese of Providence clergy members as being “credibly accused” of sexual assault against children.
Since then, the Rhode Island General Assembly has opened a “revival window” for alleged victims of child sexual abuse to file lawsuits against perpetrators and institutions that were previously barred by the statute of limitations.
In a torrent of civil lawsuit filings since the opening of the revival window, new names not previously on the “credibly accused” list have surfaced, including 21 priests and one clergy member teacher.
Below are their names, their assignment histories and a summary of the accusations against them from lawsuit complaints.
Of the 22 clergy members, 21 have been confirmed to be deceased, while the status of one Bishop Hendricken High School teacher, accused of abuse in 1966, is unknown, although if he is alive, he would be over 100 years old.
An additional priest, Thomas Marshall, has been named for the first time in Rhode Island. He was never assigned to the Providence Diocese, but is on the “credibly accused” lists for Buffalo, Los Angeles and Illinois, and was criminally charged in California for sex crimes against children. He died in 2012. While his details appear at the bottom of this list, his is not being counted as a previously unnamed alleged abuser.
Click on the name of the clergyman to jump down to their entry in the list.
- Auguste J. C. Delvaux Jr.
- Bernard J. Lennon
- Charles B. McDermott
- Charles P. Quinn
- Daniel Trainor
- Edward F. Egan
- James Beagan
- Jerome Fioretti
- John G. Greaves
- Joseph Bolton
- Normand Valoi
- Richard Stenger
- Robert Paul Perron
- Thomas H. Driscoll
- Timothy Patrick Prendiville
- James J. Cassidy
- Walter J. Downs
- Nicholas J. Iacovacci
- Francis Mullen
- Thomas Trepanier
- Raymond Murphy
- Pietro Paolo Polo
- Thomas Marshall
Ordained: 1958
Age: 51
According to the lawsuit: Auguste J. C. Delvaux Jr. is accused of abusing an 8-year-old boy at the St. Francis de Sales Church in North Kingstown, that started with sitting on his lap, progressed to inappropriate touching and then to “grotesque sexual assault.” He called this time with the boy and other children he allegedly abused “Father’s time,” according to the lawsuit.
According to the 1984 obituary in The Providence Journal, he died, age 51, at Woonsocket Hospital, after being “stricken at church.” He was assigned to the St. Joan of Arc Church at the time of his death, and had been there since 1976.
Assignment history:
- Our Lady of Providence Seminary, Providence (1958-1969)
- St. Xavier Academy, Providence (unknown-1973)
- St. Joan of Arch Church, Cumberland (1976-1984)
Ordained: 1921
Age: 73
Bernard J. Lennon is accused of abusing a 12-year-old boy at the St. Margaret’s Church in Rumford, in 1958, where the boy was studying to become an altar server. Lennon was the pastor at the time.
According to the lawsuit: Lennon allegedly took the 12-year-old and “other boys into private areas of the church and supplied them with alcohol and showed them pictures of a child pornographic nature.” He allegedly “grotesquely sexually abused and assaulted” the boy and this abuse continued until he was sent to the principal’s officer to talk to a detective from State Police or the East Providence Police Department, who interviewed him about the abuse and told him to go home and tell his parents.
Lennon founded the St. Margaret School in 1955, which goes from pre-K to eighth grade.
- First Assistant of the Cathedral of Saints Peter & Paul, Providence (1921-1944)
- Pastor of St. Patrick’s Church, Harrisville (1944-1951)
- Rector of the Cathedral of Saints Peter & Paul, Providence (1949-1951)
- Pastor of St. Margaret’s Church, Rumford (1951-1968)
- Founded St. Margaret’s Parish School, Rumford (1955)
Ordained: 1963
Died: 2017
Age: 83
Charles B. McDermott is accused of abusing a boy from 9 to 11 years old, along with two other unnamed priests, at St. Maria Goretti Church in Pawtucket, between 1975 and 1977.
According to the lawsuit: The boy was an alter server at the St. Maria Goretti Church and he would pass the church on his way home from school. The priests would invite him inside and offer him snacks and there, McDermott and the two other unknown priests would allegedly “grotesquely sexually [assault]” him.
- St. Theresa Parish, Pawtucket (1963)
- St. Leo, Pawtucket (1963-1966)
- St. Patrick, Valley Falls (1966-1967)
- Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul, Providence (1967-1969)
- St. Maria Goretti, Pawtucket (1969-1975)
- Assistant Chancellor, Advocate at the Diocesan Tribunal/Assistant pastor at Saint John Parish in Providence (1975-1978)
- St. John Parish, Providence (1978-1985)
- St. Mary Parish, Bristol (1985-1991)
- St. Joseph Parish in Pawtucket (1991-2004)
- Chaplain in residence at the Christian Brothers Center in Narragansett (2004-unknown)
Ordained: 1966
Died: March 22, 2023
Age: 82
Charles Quinn is accused of abusing a girl when she was 7 or 8 years old at St. Teresa’s Church and at the adjacent school in Providence, when Quinn was the church’s pastor, between 1967 and 1968.
According to the lawsuit: Quinn would “summon” the girl to the rectory of the church from class and on “several occasions,” he “grotesquely sexually abused” the girl and assaulted her in the St. Teresa’s Church rectory, and told her not to tell anyone what happened in his “holy chambers.”
- St. Joseph Parish, Central Falls (1966)
- St. Teresa Parish, Providence (1966-1973)
- St. Philip Parish, Greenville (1973-1982)
- Mount St. Charles Academy, Woonsocket (1982-1986)
- St. Patrick Parish, Harrisville (1982-unknown)
- St. Charles Borromeo Parish, Woonsocket (1982-1987)
- St. Raymond Parish, Providence (1987-1994)
- Jesuit Retreat House, Fairbanks, Alaska (1995, sabbatical)
- Holy Ghost Parish, Tiverton (1995-1997)
- St. Eugene Parish, Chepachet (1997-2007)
Daniel Trainor
Ordained: 1961
Died: Aug. 7, 2019
Age: 83
Daniel Trainor is accused of abusing a girl between the ages of 6 to 9 at the St. Benedict’s Church in Conimicut between 1993 and 1996.
According to the lawsuit: Trainor and an unidentified priest “grotesquely sexually assaulted” the girl at St. Benedict’s Church in Conimicut on multiple occasions between 1993 and 1996. The abuse started with the two priests requiring the girl and other children sit on their laps before, during and after church activities. Trainor would have been assigned to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Providence at the time.
“From there, the abuse escalated to numerous instances of sexual assault,” according to the lawsuit.
Assignment history:
- St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Wakefield (1961)
- St. Rita Parish, Warwick (1961-1962)
- St. Leo Parish, Pawtucket (1962-1969)
- St. Teresa Parish, Providence (1969-1971)
- Institute of Theology and Spirituality in Santa Barbara, California (1996, sabbatical)
- Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish, Providence (1971-2007)
Died: Jan. 29, 2004
Age: 87
Edward F. Egan is accused of abusing a boy between 1978 and 1980 when the boy was 11 to 13 years old at the St. Augustine’s Church in Providence, as the boy went to the adjacent school.
According to the lawsuit: Egan would summon the boy out of class and in his office, he would berate the boy for “purported disciplinary issues” at the adjacent school and then tell him he could “make it all go away.”
Egan then “grotesquely sexually assaulted and abused,” according to the lawsuit. “This abuse occurred on multiple occasions.”
Egan allegedly gave money to the boy and told him not to tell anyone about the abuse.
Assignment history:
- St. Brendan Church, Riverside (1941)
- St. Francis Orphanage, Woonsocket
- St. Augustine Church, Providence (1970-1991)
Ordained: Unknown
Died: Dead as of 1990
Age: Unknown
James Beagan allegedly sexually assaulted a girl, between the ages of 7 and 8, at St. Madeline Sophie Church in Tiverton, between 1968 and 1970.
According to the lawsuit: Beagan would allegedly follow the girl and her friend into the bathrooms after catechism, when the girls were in the second and third grades, and sexually abuse each in the bathroom, and force the one to watch the other be abused, an estimated 20 to 30 times. Afterward, Beagan would flush the toilet and tell them that they would “be flushed down.” The friend later died by suicide.
Note: Obituaries for Beagan’s sibling indicate that by 1990, when his brother died, he had also died. Archival newspaper searches turned up no record of an obituary.
Assignment history: Unknown
Jerome Fioretti
Ordained: 1932
Died: March 19, 2002
Age: 91
Jerome Fioretti is accused of abusing a 7-year-old girl in 1967 at Our Lady of Grace Church in Johnston.
According to the lawsuit: The seven-year-old girl received her first communion at Our Lady of Grace Church in 1967 and after, Fioretti and the girl were alone together. He told her she was now “a wife of Jesus” and then “grotesquely sexually abused and assaulted” her.
Assignment history:
- Several parishes in Michigan (1949-unknown)
- St. Ann’s Parish, Providence (1951-unknown)
- Our Lady of Grace Church, Providence (1965-1980)
- U.S. Naval Hospital, Newport (1980-unknown)
Ordained: 1958
Died: Dec. 6, 2021
Age: 90
John G. Greaves is accused of sexually abusing a 10- to 11-year-old boy between 1986 and 1987 at St. Mary’s Church in Providence.
According to the lawsuit: Greaves would summon the boy and his friend, both altar servers, from school to help him preparing the church for Mass. In the sacristy of St. Mary’s Church in Providence, Greaves allegedly started by hugging the boy and adjusting his robe, which escalated to “grotesque sexual assault and abuse.”
“Father Greaves told Plaintiff that it would be a sin to reveal the abuse and that no one would believe Plaintiff over Father Greaves because Father Greaves had power,” according to the lawsuit.
Assignment history:
- SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral, Providence (1958-1964)
- St. Michael Church, Providence (1964-1968)
- St. Rose Church, Warwick (1968-1971)
- St. Teresa Church, Pawtucket (1971-1976)
- St. Mary Church, Providence (1976-1991)
- St. Ann Church, Cranston (1991-2001)
- Retired (2001)
Ordained: 1962
Died: Sept. 23, 2022
Age: 85
Joseph Bolton is accused of abusing a 9-year-old boy for multiple years at St. Joseph Parish in Pawtucket between 1975 and 1978.
According to the lawsuit: Bolton allegedly used his position as a priest, and authority over the 9-year-old altar boy, to “isolate and sexually abuse” him. The abuse, including alleged instances of rape, lasted from 1975 to 1978.
- St. Francis Parish, Wakefield (1962)
- Sacred Heart Parish, Woonsocket (1962-1967)
- St. John Parish, North Smithfield (1967)
- St. Luke Parish, Barrington (1967)
- U.S. Army Chaplain (1968-1974)
- St. Joseph Parish, Pawtucket (1975-1977)
- Holy Trinity, Central Falls (1977-1985)
Ordained: 1946
Died: Jan. 8, 2006
Age: 84
At Our Lady of Consolation Church in Pawtucket, Valoi allegedly sexually abused a 9- or 10-year-old boy around 1974-1975.
According to the lawsuit: When the boy was 9 or 10 and was serving Mass, Valois was ask him to assist with his robe in the sacristy area, when he “grotesquely sexually abused and assaulted” the child, around 1974 or 1975.
“Father Valois told Plaintiff that the incident had to stay a secret, and that it would ruin Plaintiff and Plaintiff’s family if anyone found out,” according to the lawsuit.
Assignment history:
- Precious Blood Church in Woonsocket (1946-1967)
- Our Lady of Consolation Church, Pawtucket (1967-1991)
- Retired (1991)
Ordained: Unknown
Died: Unknown
Age: Unknown
Brother Richard Strenger is accused of of abusing a 14-year-old student at Bishop Hendricken High School when he was a teacher there, in 1966.
According to the lawsuit: Strenger was working at the high school as a teacher and dealt with field maintenance and the 14-year-old boy took a job doing maintenance on the field, putting him in “close contact” with Strenger. One day in the summer of 1966, after they had finished work on the baseball field, Strenger allegedly “grotesquely sexually abused and assaulted” the boy, and did so multiple other times, around the baseball or football fields and in the football field’s concession stand.
The victim in the case is now 74, which would make Stenger, if he is still alive, over 100 years old.
Assignment history: Unknown
Ordained: 1981
Age: 67
In 1992, Robert Perron allegedly abused an 8-year-old boy at the St. Michael the Archangel Church in Providence.
According to the lawsuit: The boy, 8, was taking Confraternity of Christian Doctrine classes at the school adjacent to St. Michael the Archangel Church in Providence, where Perron was the pastor, and taught classes. Perron would allegedly ask the boy to stay after class so he could speak to him, would ensure they were alone in the building and order to take his shirt off before inappropriately touching him.
Perron’s conduct allegedly escalated until he “grotesquely sexually assaulted” the boy. The abuse lasted for a year and told the boy that he would get in trouble if anyone were to find out.
Assignment history:
- St. Lucy Parish, Middletown (1981-1986)
- Our Lady of Mercy Parish, East Greenwich (1986-1988)
- St. Michael Parish, Providence (1988-1992)
- Notre Dame Parish, Central Falls (1992-1997)
- Holy Spirit Parish, Central Falls (1997-2001)
- All Saints Parish, Woonsocket (2001-2007)
- St. Joseph Parish, Pawtucket (2007-2009)
- Sacred Heart Parish, Pawtucket (2007-09)
- Holy Family Parish, Pawtucket (2009-2014)
- St. Joseph Church, West Warwick (2014-2016)
- St. Michael the Archangel Church, Providence (2016-2020)
Ordained: 1950
Age: Unknown
Thomas H. Driscoll allegedly abused a boy from 1960 to 1963, when the boy was 12 to 15 years old at the Sacred Heart Church in Woonsocket.
According to the lawsuit: The boy was an alter server at the Sacred Heart Church in Woonsocket, where Driscoll was the pastor. Driscoll allegedly befriended the boy and the other altar servers, and would take them out to activities and give them alcohol at his summer cottage. Sometime after, Driscoll would call the boy of his public school classes to help him to work at the rectory and there, he would take him into his private quarters and have him discuss cleanliness and hygiene.
“This grooming process culminated in the grotesque sexual assault and abuse of Plaintiff by Father Driscoll,” according to the lawsuit. “Father Driscoll sexually assaulted and abused Plaintiff on multiple occasions.”
Driscoll told the boy the abuse needed to stay between them.
- St. Bernard Church, Wickford
- St. Augustine Church, Newport
- St. Francis de Sales Church, North Kingstown
- Sacred Heart Church, Woonsocket
Ordained: 1956
Age: 84
Timothy Patrick Prendiville allegedly abused a girl between 1962 and 1964, when she was 16 to 18 years old, at St. Lucy’s Church in Middletown.
According to the lawsuit: The girl met Prendiville when she was participating in a youth organization at St. Lucy’s Church in Middletown. Prendiville would invite her to the rectory, where the two would be alone.
“Over the course of approximately two years, Father Prendiville sexually abused and assaulted Plaintiff on several occasions,” according to the lawsuit.
Prendiville left the priesthood in 1976, married and had kids in Tucson, Arizona, according to the lawsuit.
Assignment history:
- St. Lucy’s Parish, Middletown
- St. Peter’s, Warwick
Ordained: 1942
Died: Feb. 3, 1996
Age: 76
James J. Cassidy is accused, along with three other unknown priests, of abusing a 7-year-old boy between 1977 and 1981 while Cassidy was a pastor at St. Brendan’s Church in Riverside.
According to the lawsuit: The boy, 7 when the abuse started, was encouraged to become an altar boy and Cassidy and three other priests allegedly started inappropriately touching him, including when he was receiving the sacrament of confession in the sacristy of the church, and they eventually “grotesquely sexually assaulted and abused” on “several occasions.”
“Plaintiff was told that no one would believe him if he revealed the abuse and that he would go to hell if he did so,” according to the lawsuit.
- St. Lawrence Church, Centredale (1942-1952)
- St. Joseph Hospital Annex, Hillsgrove (1952-1954)
- St. Sebastian Church, Providence (1954-1967)
- St. Thomas More Church, Narragansett (1967-1972)
- St. Brendan Church, Riverside (1972-1990)
- Retired (1990)
Ordained: 1958
Age: 87
Walter J. Downs is accused of abusing a 10- or 11-year-old boy, in 1974 or 1975, at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Wakefield, while he was a member of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.
According to the lawsuit: When the boy was 10 or 11, he served as an altar server at the St. Francis of Assisi Church, where Downs was serving as pastor. The boy would arrive early and Downs started doing the same. One time when they were alone together in the sacristy, Downs allegedly told the boy he didn’t have to wear clothes under his robe.
“Father Downs then escalated his conduct and grotesquely sexually assaulted and abused Plaintiff. Father Downs’ abuse of Plaintiff occurred on multiple occasions,” according to the lawsuit.
- Holy Family Parish, Nazareth, Pennsylvania (1959)
- Holy Cross Parish, Batavia, Illiniois (1960)
- Superior of the MSC community in Sparta, Wisconsin (1964-1965)
- Oceanside, California MSC superior (1965-1972)
- St. Francis Parish, Warwick (1972-1977)
- Director of novices in Youngstown, Ohio (1980-1987)
- Chaplain to MSC Sisters, Namibia (1999)
- St. Joseph Parish, Upland, California
- Holy Family Parish, Nazareth, Pennsylvania (2010-2015)
Ordained: 1951
Died: Nov. 23, 2023
Age: 97
Nicholas J. Iacovacci allegedly abused a 9- or 10-year-old boy at St. Ann’s Church in Providence in 1987.
According to the lawsuit: The boy, 9 or 10 at the time in 1987, was a student at the school adjacent to St. Ann’s Church in Providence, where Iacovacci was the pastor. One day, Iacovacci took the boy out of class, brought him to an empty classroom, ordered him to remove his clothing and started touching him.
“Father Iacovacci eventually escalated his conduct and grotesquely sexually abused and assaulted Plaintiff. The abuse occurred on multiple occasions,” according to the lawsuit.
- Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church, Providence (1951)
- St. Ann Church, Providence (1951-1968)
- Our Lady of Grace Church, Johnston (1968-1976)
- St. William Church, Warwick (1968-1976)
- St. Ann Church, Providence (1976-1997)
- St. Peter Church, Warwick (1998-2021)
Ordained: Unknown
Died: 1989
Age: Unknown
Francis Mullen allegedly abused a 16-year-old boy in 1964 when he was a parishioner at St. Christopher’s Church in Tiverton.
According to the lawsuit: The 16-year-old boy went to pick up some friends in the St. Christopher’s Church choir, at the church. Mullen allegedly approached the boy, accused him of trying to use the church as a place to find a date, and started touching him.
“Father Mullen eventually escalated his conduct and grotesquely sexually abused and assaulted Plaintiff. The abuse occurred on multiple occasions,” according to the lawsuit.
According to attorney Mark Decof, Mullen was not a diocesan priest but with the Congregation of Holy Spirit Order. It appears, but is not entirely confirmed, that he died in 1989.
Assignment history:
- St. Christopher’s Church, Tiverton (1964-1968)
- Holy Childhood Association Home, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, due to “ill health” (1968)
Ordained: 1964
Died: Dec. 25, 2002
Age: 64
Thomas Trepanier is accused of abusing a boy between 1989 and 1991 when he was 8 years old, at the Holy Name Church (also known as the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus) in Providence.
According to the lawsuit: Trepanier allegedly summoned the boy out of his class at the school adjacent to the church, to his office in the rectory, and started asking him inappropriate questions.
“Thereafter, Father Trepanier escalated his conduct and grotesquely sexually abused and assaulted Plaintiff,” according to the lawsuit.
The abuse happened multiple times and Trepanier allegedly told the boy he would “go to hell” if he told anyone about the abuse, according to the lawsuit.
- St. Charles Parish, Woonsocket (1964-1965)
- St. Aloysius Church, Woonsocket (1965-1970)
- Holy Family Church, Woonsocket (1970-1975)
- Our Lady of Good Counsel, West Warwick (1977-1978)
- Christ the King, West Warwick (1977-1978)
- Our Lady of Providence Seminary, Warwick Neck (1978-1982)
- Chaplain, U.S. Army (1982-1989)
- Holy Name Church, Providence (1989-1995)
- St. Ambrose Church, Lincoln (1997-unknown)
- Bryant College, Smithfield (1997-unknown)
Ordained: 1930
Died: unknown
Age: unknown
Raymond Murphy allegedly abused an 11-year-old boy in 1963 when he was a pastor at St. Kevin’s Church in Warwick, and the boy was attending the adjacent school.
According to the lawsuit: Murphy allegedly would invite the 11-year-old boy to the rectory of St. Kevin’s Church, telling the boy he “had to see” him after school, and allegedly touch him inappropriately, and until he “escalated his conduct and grotesquely sexually abused and assaulted Plaintiff,” on multiple occasions.
“Father Murphy told Plaintiff not to worry and that Father Murphy would not hurt Plaintiff,” according to the lawsuit.
Assignment history:
- Cathedral of Saints Peter & Paul, Providence
- St. Augustin Church, Newport
- St. Augustine Church, Providence
- St. Rita Church, Warwick
- St. Joseph Church, Newport
- St. Francis House, Woonsocket
- Mount St. Charles Academy, Woonsocket
- St. Michael Church, Providence
- St. Kevin Church, Warwick
- Stella Maris Home, Newport
Ordained: Unknown
Died: Sept. 13, 2023
Age: 80
Pietro Paolo Polo allegedly abused a 7- or 8-year-old boy at Holy Ghost Church in 1984 or 1985.
According to the lawsuit: Between 1984 and 1985, the boy was a parishioner at Holy Ghost Church and a Confraternity of Christian Doctrine student, where Polo was the pastor. During clases, Polo would allegedly summon the boy, and other children, out of the class, where he would be alone with them unsupervised. For the boy, he would position himself “unnecessarily close” to the boy. Polo was a member of the Scalabrinian Missionaries and a native of Italy.
“Father Polo eventually escalated his inappropriate conduct and grotesquely sexually abused and assaulted Plaintiff. The abuse occurred on multiple occasions,” according to the lawsuit.
- Holy Ghost Parish, Providence (1979-1990)
- St. John Scalabrini Residence (i.e., Scalabrini Villa), North Kingstown (2010-2021)
Thomas Marshall
Ordained: 1959
Died: Dec. 24, 2012
Age: Unknown
Thomas Marshall is accused of abusing a boy, 11 or 12 at the time in 1977, at the Jesus Saviour Church in Newport.
According to the lawsuit: The boy was changing out of his server robe at the Newport church when Marshall got behind him and started inappropiately touching him.
“Father Marshall eventually escalated his conduct and grotesquely sexually abused and assaulted Plaintiff,” according to the lawsuit.
A Paulist Father, Marshall died in 2012. He was accused, and indicted for, sexually abusing children in California, and was on the credibly accused lists from the Illinois Attorney General and the dioceses of Los Angeles, California, Buffalo, New York, and Chicago, Illinois, as well as on the list of credibly accused Paulist Fathers.
Marshall was also known as Thomas Reon Paul Marshall Jr.
Assignment history: Unknown