Ronald Paquin

Passions

Vocation

Lifestyle

American ecclesiastic, a Reverend father in the Roman Catholic church. In 1990, when he was removed from the Haverhill parish for molesting children, the Archdiocese of Boston sent him to Our Lady's Hall in Milton, where the church sequestered priests for therapy. While there, he continued having sexual relations with one of his young charges who visited him, even spending the night. Meantime, the archdiocese has paid settlement claims to at least four of his victims. Paquin, who was ordained in 1973, began his career in Methuen where he was in charge of alter boys. He transferred to Haverhill in 1981 where he began a relationship with one boy steadily for six years, involving oral sex. His sexual appetite for boys continued for close to 20 years before he was removed from service. From 1990 to 1998, church directories listed Paquin as "unassigned" or on "sick leave." A wrongful death charge was filed on behalf of a Haverhill couple whose 16-year-old son, James Francis, was killed in an auto accident that occurred when Paquin was driving on 11/28/1981. He pleaded guilty in January 2003 to three counts of child rape and was sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison. He was the first Boston Archdiocese priest to admit guilt in a criminal molestation case since the sex abuse scandal exploded in January. He was removed from active ministry two years ago; the archdiocese received at least 18 complaints in two decades that he had sexually abused young boys.