Joseph A Fredette

October 12, 2002

Court orders rape charge overturned

Fredette may face new trial

By Kathleen A. Shaw, Telegram & Gazette Staff

The state Appeals Court yesterday overturned the 1995 child rape conviction of the Rev. Joseph A. Fredette, ordering a new trial for the Assumptionist priest who, in the 1970s, oversaw a home for troubled teenage boys in Worcester.

The priest was tried for sexually abusing two 13-year-old boys. He was convicted of molesting one of the boys and found not guilty of molesting the other.

In its ruling, the appellate court faulted the actions of Worcester Superior Court Judge James Donahue, the trial judge, and the special prosecutor, Herbert L. Travers.

Rev. Fredette, 70, who fled to Canada in 1974 after Worcester police issued warrants for his arrest, served time in a state prison after his conviction and was released in 1999. He was ordained by the Catholic order of the Augustinians of the Assumption.

His current whereabouts were not listed in court documents. He was last known to be living at a hermitage he founded in an abandoned village of Jailletville, New Brunswick, before he was extradited to the United States in 1995 to face trial.

Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte said yesterday he is reviewing the court decision and has not decided whether to seek a new trial. One option, he said, is to file for a Supreme Judicial Court review of the ruling, which was issued by appellate court Justices Kenneth Laurence, Gerald Gillerman and David Mills.

Rev. Fredette's lawyer, Alan J. Black, praised the court's decision. “I think there was some extraneous prejudicial material with the jury, and I think it amounted to a big deal,” he said yesterday.

Gary M. Melanson, whom Rev. Fredette was convicted of molesting, said yesterday that he was unaware the priest was even seeking to overturn his conviction.

“It's like reopening old wounds ...,” he said. Mr. Melanson, who now lives out of state, was in the Worcester County House of Correction at the time of the 1995 trial. He said he has been slowly getting his life back together.

Mr. Melanson, now 46, said he knew of other teenage boys who stayed at the former Come Alive residence on Channing Street who allegedly had been sexually abused by Rev. Fredette, but decided against pursuing criminal charges or filing lawsuits. Mr. Melanson was sent to Come Alive after he ran away from home.

His mother, Beverly Melanson of Charlton, described the ruling as “terrible.”

“They could just overturn this after he spent that time in jail and make it look like he did nothing wrong,” she said. Mrs. Melanson, who has since become a Catholic, said she is studying to be a Eucharistic minister at St. Joseph Parish in Charlton.

Dana L. Vyska, of Pittsfield, whom Rev. Fredette was acquitted of molesting, said, “I just don't know what to say (about the ruling).

“... I brought him forward then and I would do it again,” he added. “I will again assist with a new trial in any way I can.”.

Mr. Vyska told the Telegram & Gazette 10 years ago that he was sexually molested by Rev. Fredette at Come Alive. After the priest was acquitted of sexually abusing him, Mr. Vyska filed a civil lawsuit. He said an out-of-court settlement provided him with enough money for a down payment on a house for himself and his family.

Mr. Vyska also was awarded a $120,000 judgment in another civil suit he filed against Rev. Fredette, but did not receive any of the money after the priest maintained he was indigent.

The basis of Rev. Fredette's appeal was a juror who, during the trial, watched a televised interview of Mrs. Melanson.

The justices said that during the jury's deliberations, a note was sent to Judge Donahue in which one of the jurors asked to review Mr. Melanson's testimony. The judge read the entire note into the record, including the information that a juror had seen the televised interview with Mr. Melanson's mother and had discussed it with other jurors.

The appellate court justices said Judge Donahue “did not ask for or provide an opportunity for comment by counsel regarding the note, the content of the interview, the extent of the jurors' knowledge thereof, or the procedure to be followed in light of the note.”

When the verdict was returned, the justices said, Rev. Fredette's lawyer at the time requested that the jurors be polled and interviewed individually to determine whether the television interview had any effect on their deliberations. All jurors said it did not influence their decision.

“Although several jurors revealed knowledge of (Mrs. Melanson's) interview and the fact that there had been some discussion of it in the jury room, the defendant's motion for a 'mistrial' was denied without argument or discussion,” the appellate court justices said.

In the interview, Mrs. Melanson said that her son had never been in trouble before he met Rev. Fredette.

Mrs. Melanson yesterday stood by that statement. She added that she faulted the state Department of Social Services and the state Department of Youth Services for putting her son at risk by sending him to the Come Alive program.

The justices also ruled that Travers erred in his closing argument at Rev. Fredette's trial.

Testimony during the trial showed that Mr. Melanson did not reveal any abuse by Rev. Fredette before 1992. There also was testimony that Mr. Melanson continued to maintain contact with the priest for some years after he left the Come Alive program, and that he had visited Rev. Fredette in Canada.

“The prosecutor's sweeping proposition that victims of sexual (or any other) abuse commonly delay disclosure of that abuse and maintain relationships with their abuser had not been the subject of testimony at trial, and the record is devoid of anything to support it,” the justices said.

 A Telegram & Gazette reporter found Rev. Fredette in New Brunswick in 1992. After leaving the United States in 1974, he had stayed for a while in Quebec and then moved to New Brunswick where he served as priest at a nearby parish. Parishioners forced him to leave the church after they discovered that young men were staying in the rectory.

Mr. Conte worked through the U.S. State Department to have Rev. Fredette returned to this country to face trial.

Rev. Fredette was executive director of the Come Alive program from 1970 to 1974. Boys were placed in the program by the state Department of Youth Services.

January 24, 2005

Tip to Worcester Telegram leads to location of Wanted Priest In 1993. 

Worcester DA Conte failed to execute warrant.

In a seven-section outline dealing with some 56 news articles, scanning a thirty-year time span. The complete public accounting of the attempt of two clergy sexual abuse victims Mr. Gary M. Melanson and Mr. Dana Vyska, to ascertain justice in Worcester can be told in the Rev. Joseph Fredette case.

The road to justice for the victims of Rev. Joseph Fredette was initiated by a phone call into the Worcester Telegram and Gazette in 1992. 

Telegram and Gazette received word of the outstanding warrant against Rev. Fredette and Kathy Shaw and George Griffin actively pursued the story based on the stories that began appearing in the newspaper August 1, 1992, the first story ran on FREDETTE IN RURAL RETREAT \ PRIEST SAID TO BE IN NEW BRUNSWICK. the story read He has been considered a fugitive from justice since he left Worcester in 1974 and headed first to the Pope John XXIII Retreat in Cassadaga, N.Y., then to the Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart outside Sherbrooke, Quebec..

Constable Jean Gosselin of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Moncton, New Brunswick, whose jurisdiction covers Jailletville, said his office would investigate. According to these articles, Ms Shaw went to Canada to investigate and to locate Rev. Fredette.  Immediately the Canada authorities visited Rev. Fredette to check the circumstances of why he was there.  Rev. Fredette had been living in the same location without fear of pursuit for some twenty years.

Facing public disclosure of the inability of the Worcester police to pursue Rev. Fredette's criminal warrant, DA John Conte was forced to seek a grand jury indictment.  Again every legal method was exerted on behalf of Rev. Fredette in two countries to stop the prosecution.  After two long years Rev. Fredette was returned to the Worcester to face criminal sexual abuse charges.

The trial was the focus of two victims who told tales of being raped while being held in custody by the state of Massachusetts.  One victim was punished for disclosing being raped, the state authorities sent him to a secure lock up facility.  Alone away from the care and love of parental protection, Rev. Fredette with his "Come Alive program" was able to take advantage of these youths under his care

"Come Alive" Board members in 1973 resigned when no action was taken against Rev. Fredette. Still Massachusetts children were being placed into this  DYS sanctioned facility, and were being raped.  It happened again in Worcester County August 2002, the Warren Foster Care case where seventy one (71) 51A's child abuse charges filed, the state took no action and the 51a's were unsupported. It took a 200-page report compiled by Warren police and years before someone saved the children. DA Conte has failed to prosecute the DSS employees for child abuse and child endangerment. In 2005 no prosecution of Worcester clergy has occurred from the grand jury subpoena issued for the sexual abuse of children more than two years ago.  

The state Appeals Court on October 11, 2002 overturned the 1995 child rape conviction of the Rev. Joseph A. Fredette, ordering a new trial for the Assumptionist priest who, in the 1970s oversaw a home for troubled teenage boys in Worcester.

The priest was tried for sexually abusing two 13-year-old boys. He was convicted of molesting one of the boys and found not guilty of molesting the other.

In its ruling, the appellate court faulted the actions of Worcester Superior Court Judge James Donahue, the trial judge, and the special prosecutor, Herbert L. Travers.

Rev. Fredette, 70, who fled to Canada in 1974 after Worcester police issued warrants for his arrest, served time in a state prison after his conviction and was released in 1999.

This is the chorological gathering of published newspapers accounts. 

Due to the massive amount of print material, the material has been divided into seven pages, to represent the road to justice for the victims.

A. The process to gain Indictment  October 17, 1992

B. The arrest/extradition of Rev. Fredette   January 15, 1994

C. Arraignment in Worcester Superior Court June 9, 1994

D. The legal maneuvering  June 15, 1995

E. The trial/conviction July 13, 1995

F. Civil action  October 19, 1994

G. Appeal/ruling in favor/DA Conte's non action  August 25, 1995/ August 2002

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The process to gain Indictment  October 17, 1992

A. FREDETTE FACES MORE CHARGES \ SEXUAL ASSAULT INDICTMENTS 

PRIEST FACES NEW ABUSE CHARGE

GRAND JURY INDICTS FREDETTE

WORCESTER GRAND JURY INDICTS PRIEST

TWO RESIGNED OVER INACTION

FREDETTE HAS LEFT HIS CANADIAN RETREAT

PRIEST WHO LEFT WORCESTER STILL CONTROVERSIAL IN CANADA

CONTE MAY SEEK EXTRADITION OF EX-PRIEST

WORCESTER OFFICIALS PONDER EXTRADITION OF PRIEST IN '74 CASE

PRIEST ACCUSED IN '74 OF MOLESTING IN MASS. APPEARS TO BE IN CANADA

The arrest/extradition of Rev. Fredette   January 15, 1994

B. MOUNTIES ARREST FATHER FREDETTE  

SUMMONS SERVED TO PRIEST \ FREDETTE WAS STILL AT JAILLETVILLE

CANADIANS SEEK NEW AFFIDAVIT ON REV. FREDETTE

EXTRADITION OF FREDETTE UNDER REVIEW

FREDETTE EXTRADITION APPROVED

RCMP WOULD PURSUE FREDETTE

Arraignment in Worcester Superior Court June 9, 1994

C. REV. FREDETTE EXTRADITED \ ARRAIGNMENT IN WORCESTER TODAY ON SEX 

FREDETTE TO FACE 7 CHARGES \ EIGHT OF ORIGINAL 15 COUNTS AGAINST

PRIEST'S EXTRADITION SET FOR WEDNESDAY

FREDETTE ORDERED TO RETURN \ PRIEST WILL FACE SEX ABUSE CHARGES

PRIEST'S RETURN MAY BE FAR OFF

E. FREDETTE SENTENCE IS 4-5 YEARS 

FREDETTE FOUND GUILTY \ JURY CONVICTS ON 3 SEX ASSAULT CHARGES

JURY DEADLOCKED IN FREDETTE TRIAL

WITNESSES SAY FREDETTE KNEW OF CHARGES

DETECTIVE "CONFRONTED' FREDETTE \ BELEZARIAN TESTIFIES PRIEST