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The convicted and the accused

By Globe Staff, 1/28/2002

Clergy identified through pending lawsuits, publicly settled lawsuits, confirmed private settlements, criminal charges, and church officials.

The Rev. Robert Barrett was sued in 1997 for molesting a boy repeatedly in 1967 and 1968 in Framingham. The case was settled in 2000. He is retired and is at McLean Hospital in Belmont.

The Rev. George C. Berthold has a pending 2000 lawsuit for sexual assault and battery. His current church assignment and address are unknown.

The Rev. Robert M. Burns served a prison term after pleading guilty to molesting a boy in his New Hampshire apartment. The archdiocese settled lawsuits charging him with abusing boys in two Boston parishes. He has been defrocked.

The Rev. Richard T. Coughlin was suspended in 1993 by the Orange County Archdiocese in California after being accused of molesting boys in a chorus. The Boston Archdiocese has paid for therapy for a man who filed a 1985 complaint that Coughlin molested him in in Stoneham and Lynn between 1958 and 1962. Coughlin left the Boston Archdiocese in 1965.

The Rev. John M. Cotter was accused by several men of sexually molesting them when they were boys in St. Theresa�s Church in West Roxbury. The cases were settled by the archdiocese. He died in 1989.

The Rev. John J. Geoghan has been accused of sexual abuse by at least 130 individuals. He was convicted on one count of indecent sexual assault earlier this month and has two additional criminal trials pending. He is a defendant in about 90 remaining civil suits.

Joseph Gilpin, a former seminarian, was sued in 2001 for repeatedly abusing a Wareham boy from 1965 to 1968. The case is pending. Gilpin, who lives in Florida, denied the abuse occurred.

The Rev. Frederick L. Guthrie of St. Ann�s Church in Gloucester was arrested on Nov. 6, 2001, at a Nashua ice cream stand after allegedly attempting to set up a sexual encounter with a teenage boy over the Internet. The case is pending.

The Rev. John R. Hanlon, a former pastor of St. Paul�s Church in Hingham, is serving a life sentence for his 1994 conviction for the rape of a Hingham altar boy in 1980. The archdiocese settled a civil lawsuit .led by the rape victim and his brother for an undisclosed sum in 1994.

The Rev. Kelvin Iguabita of All Saints Church in Haverhill was arrested on Jan. 15, 2002, and charged with two counts of rape of a child and attempted rape and assault of a 15-year-old girl. The case is pending.

The Rev. Bernard J. Lane has had at least six sexual abuse cases settled after he was accused of raping teenage boys when he was director of a home for troubled youth in Littleton. In addition, there is one pending lawsuit. He is retired and living in Barnstead, N.H.

The Rev. Paul J. Mahan has 12 sexual molestation lawsuits pending from accusers who say they were molested while Mahan was at parishes in Dorchester and Needham from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. He was defrocked and is living in Arlington, Va.

The Rev. Richard O. Matte had a sexual abuse lawsuit settled by the archdiocese. The suit was impounded. He lives in South Dennis.

Paul E. McDonald was accused of sexually abusing a boy in the 1960s before he left the priesthood. The case was settled last year.

The Rev. Jay M. Mullin was accused of sexually molesting a boy in the early 1970s while assigned to St. Anthony�s Church in Allston. The archdiocese settled the claim several years ago, and then assigned him to St. Ann�s Church in Wayland. Late last year, he was removed as chaplain at St. Joseph�s Manor, a Brockton nursing home. Mullin remains "unassigned" and lives in Harwich.

The Rev. Eugene O�Sullivan pleaded guilty in 1984 to having sex with an altar boy. After probation, he was assigned to four New Jersey parishes. Pastors in three of the four said they were never told about his conviction. He was recalled to Boston in 1992 and banned from priestly activity.

The Rev. Ronald H. Paquin is an admitted child molester. The archdiocese has settled at least four sexual molestation cases against him and he is in the process of being defrocked. He is living in Malden.

The Rev. George Rosenkranz was sued in 2000 for sexual abuse that allegedly occurred at Blessed Sacrament in Saugus in the 1970s. He has been on sick leave since 1990. His case is pending.

The Rev. Paul R. Shanley has had at least three cases charging him with sexually molesting teenage boys settled by the archdiocese. He is retired and living in San Diego.

The Rev. Andrzej Sujka was removed from Our Lady of Czestochowa, South Boston, on Oct. 1 after an allegation that he molested a minor.

The Rev. C. Melvin Surette was accused of sexually abusing children at the same Littleton treatment facility where Bernard J. Lane was accused of raping teenage boys. The archdiocese settled the case against Surette. He is living with a family in Peabody.

The Rev. Ernest E. Tourigney was accused of molesting two children at Immaculate Conception Church in Weymouth. Both cases were settled by the archdiocese, for $35,000 each. He is on sick leave and living in Pocasset.

The Rev. Robert Turnbull was sued in 2000 for sexually abusing a boy at Austin Preparatory School in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Turnbull is dead. The case against the school and the archdiocese is pending.

The Rev. Paul D. White, a former priest, was sued in 1998 for molesting an altar boy in the 1960s in Haverhill. The archdiocese settled the case.


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