BOSTON (MA)
WGME-TV, CBS affiliate [Portland ME]
September 13, 2026
A former priest convicted of sexually abusing a child in Maine roughly 40 years ago has died in prison.
Ronald Paquin was incarcerated at Mountain View Correctional Facility in Charleston.
The Maine Department of Corrections says he died in custody on Friday afternoon.
Paquin began serving a 16-year sentence in 2019. He was convicted by a jury for gross sexual misconduct, which happened in Kennebunkport in the 1980s.
He was convicted of similar charges in Massachusetts and spent a decade behind bars there.
“I have represented more than 25 clergy sexual abuse victims or survivors of Fr. Ronald Paquin. Fr. Paquin sexually abused my clients as children from about 1973 to 1990 when he was assigned to either St. Monica’s Parish in Methuen, MA, or St. John The Baptist Parish in Haverhill, MA. The death of Fr. Paquin brings a measure of relief to many clergy sexual abuse victims and survivors because they feel as though Fr, Paquin will no longer be able to sexually abuse children and destroy innocent lives. With all due respect, society has not lost a great human being,” Attorney Mitchell Garabedian said.
Paquin was 83 years old.