Ex-Priest Pleads Guilty in Molestations
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NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — A former Roman Catholic priest pleaded guilty Monday to molesting 28 children at three Massachusetts parishes in the 1960s.
Prosecutors said 125 men and women had come forward willing to testify that James R. Porter had molested them when they were children. They said several had complained to church officials at the time, with no result except Porter being moved from one parish to another.
The pleas culminate a case that surfaced in May, 1992, and helped focus the Roman Catholic Church’s attention on sexual abuse by priests.
Porter could be sentenced to more than 200 years in prison. Sentencing was set for Dec. 6.
Some of Porter’s victims, now in their 30s and 40s, sat in the courtroom and cried softly as officials read a litany of Porter’s crimes.
When Superior Court Judge Robert Steadman asked why he pleaded guilty, Porter, 58, replied: “Because I am guilty, your honor.”
Initially, he had pleaded not guilty.
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