Priest in Boston abuse scandal arrested

The Associated Press

BOSTON -- One of the most notorious figures in the sex abuse scandal engulfing the Roman Catholic Church was arrested Thursday on charges he repeatedly raped a young boy, sometimes in a church confessional, during the 1980s.

The Rev. Paul Shanley, 71, who has advocated sex between men and boys, voluntarily surrendered at an apartment in San Diego on three counts of raping a child in Massachusetts.

Neither Middlesex County District Attorney Martha Coakley nor the victim's attorney gave his name, but a source close to the case identified him as Paul Busa, 24, a former Air Force policeman.

Busa went public with allegations last month in Colorado, where he was stationed, saying that he had repressed all memory of the abuse until hearing about a childhood friend who accused Shanley of molesting him.

Shanley was arrested early Thursday at an apartment complex for senior and disabled citizens that overlooks San Diego's Balboa Park.

Low profile

He had kept such a low profile since the molestation allegations surfaced in March that the manager of the complex thought Shanley had moved out of the unit he shared with another man. No one answered the apartment's buzzer Thursday, and telephone calls went unanswered.

Shanley's Boston attorney, Frank Mondano, did not return repeated calls seeking comment Thursday.

Until recently, prosecutors believed Shanley may have fled the country. Coakley said her office acted quickly to arrest him after television reporters found him last week in San Diego. An extradition hearing was scheduled today.

In a civil lawsuit against the archdiocese, Busa said Shanley began abusing him in 1983, when he was 6, and continued through 1989.

Shanley took the boy involved in the criminal charges out of religion classes almost weekly and brought him to a bathroom, the rectory or the confessional at St. Jean Parish in Newton to abuse him, Coakley said.

She said the boy, now an adult, came forward in the past week after seeing media reports about Shanley, including details from his personnel file that showed the archdiocese knew of allegations against him.