FORMER CHURCH LEADER AND ADMITTED RAPIST IS NOT SEXUALLY DANGEROUS, PSYCHOLOGISTS SAY

Associated Press

Christopher Reardon, a former youth minister and YMCA swim coach, pleaded guilty to raping andmolesting boys in what prosecutors called the biggest child sex-abuse case in Massachusettshistory. He had faced 130 counts involving 29 children. He could get up to life in prison. Defenseattorney John Andrews said Reardon decided to plead guilty, without any promise of a lenientsentence, because he wanted to spare the boys more harm. Police also confiscated at least two dozenpornographic videos, photographs of nude children, inflatable dolls and sex toys from his home andoffice at the St. Agnes Roman Catholic Church in Middleton. They also found a videotape of himmasturbating with a boy in the church rectory. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston is nowrequiring criminal background checks on current and prospective staff members and volunteers whowork with children, the disabled and the elderly. The move comes amid concern over the arrest ofReardon. The archdiocesan requirement will affect all paid parish workers and thousands ofvolunteers who have an opportunity to be alone with children or have contact with the disabled andthe elderly. Parishes were informed of the new rule last month. A judge began deliberatingReardon's fate after two days of testimony in which victims demanded retribution and prosecutorsattacked experts' claims that he was treatable. Defense lawyer John Andrews conceded that Reardonmust be punished but also asked Salem Superior Court Judge Isaac Borenstein for a lenient sentencethat would allow Reardon to be treated. One defense expert, psychologist Carol Ball, told thecourt: This is not a totally evil man.

(Boston, Massachusetts)