WARE, Mass. (WHDH) — A convicted pedophile priest and notorious figure in the Boston sex abuse scandal was released from prison early Friday morning after serving 12 years behind bars for raping a boy at a Newton parish in the 1980s.
RELATED: Despite ‘deviant sexual interest’ in boys, pedophile priest not likely to reoffend, experts say
Officials said 86-year-old Paul Shanley was released from a correctional center in Bridgewater. He was spotted around 11:30 a.m. at the Ware Police Department, where he registered as a sex offender and drove off in a Nissan sedan. Shanley moved into his new apartment in the town shortly after.
The sex offender registry lists Shanley as a Level 3 offender, meaning he is most likely to re-offend.
Shanley, a former “street priest,” ministered to alienated youths in the 1960s and 1970s. Decades later, dozens of men came forward and said Shanley had molested or raped them. He was defrocked by the Vatican, convicted in 2005 and sentenced to jail.
Sexual abuse victims say they’re concerned that Shanley will not have enough supervision in Ware and that he will rape again. He’ll be monitored by probation officials for a decade, but isn’t required to wear an electronic monitoring device.
Before he was set free, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan had Shanley evaluated in an attempt to have him committed for being sexually dangerous, but two psychologists deemed him safe for release.
Attorney’s representing Shanley’s victims say no one is safe with him on the street. Residents of Ware say they are alarmed and disturbed that Shanley will living among them.
“He’s going to be molesting again,” said Mitchell Garabedian, a lawyer who represented dozens of men who said they were abused by Shanley. “Paul Shanley should be in a hospital being treated and not in the outside world where he can easily gain access to innocent children.”
Shanley’s lawyer says he’s served his time and is not dangerous.
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)