UPDATE:: Fugitive ex-priest sentenced to 30 years in sex abuse case
A former Roman Catholic priest who fled the country decades ago was sentenced Friday in New Mexico to 30 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of sexually abusing an altar boy at a veterans' cemetery and military base.
In ordering the sentence, U.S. District Judge Martha Vazquez said it was the worst case of child sex abuse she has handled over the course of 26 years.
At one point, the judge demanded that 81-year-old defendant Arthur Perrault look a woman in the eyes as she testified about being abused by him.
UPDATE:: In Santa Fe, ex-priest guilty on 7 counts of child sex abuse
Following a federal trial in Santa Fe that began early last week, a jury convicted Perrault on six counts of aggravated sexual abuse and one count of abusive sexual contact with a minor under the age of 12 in a case in which the former priest was accused of raping and molesting an altar boy at Kirtland Air Force Base and the Santa Fe National Cemetery between 1991 and 1992.
A fugitive priest who fled the U.S. decades ago amid allegations of child sex abuse has been returned to New Mexico to face charges after being arrested in Morocco last year, federal officials said Friday.
Arthur J. Perrault, 80, a former Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and a former Air Force chaplain, has been charged in a federal indictment with seven counts of aggravated sexual abuse and abusive sexual contact between 1991 and 1992 at Kirtland Air Force Base and Santa Fe National Cemetery.
Perrault, a one-time pastor at St. Bernadette parish in Albuquerque, is one of many priests who were sent to New Mexico in the 1960s from around the country for treatment involving pedophilia.
Victims, lawyers and church documents show the priests were later assigned to parishes and schools across New Mexico — especially in small Native American and Hispanic communities.
At a court appearance Friday, Perrault pleaded not guilty to all seven counts against him. His attorney couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Fugitive New Mexico priest pleads not guilty to sex abuse
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