WORCESTER - An Assumptionist priest accused of sexually assaulting boys placed in his care by the state 20 years ago took the stand in Worcester Superior Court yesterday to say why charges against him should be dropped.

The Rev. Joseph A. Fredette, who was director of Come Alive Inc., a Worcester halfway house for delinquent boys in the early 1970s, claims his rights to a speedy and fair trial have been violated.

INDICTED IN 1992

Fredette has been held in lieu of $50,000 cash bail since being extradited from his home in Jailletville, New Brunswick, Canada, in June 1994. He was indicted by Worcester County grand juries in September and October of 1992.

Those indictments allege he had sexually assaulted three boys in his care in the early 1970s. The indictments were similar to Worcester District Court charges filed against Fredette in 1974, shortly after he had left the United States to live permanently in Canada.

A warrant was issued for Fredette's arrest in May 1974. It was never served because Fredette had left Massachusetts.

Fredette opposed extradition from Canada. But in 1994, he was ordered returned to Worcester in what Canadian and U.S Justice Department officials believe is the first instance of a Roman Catholic priest being extradited to the United States for trial on child sexual assault charges.

WASN'T HIDING

Worcester Superior Court briefs filed on Fredette's behalf by his defense lawyer, Paul J. McManus, contend Fredette has lived openly and publicly and made no attempt to avoid the charges during his 20 years living in Canada.

McManus has asked the court to dismiss the charges based on alleged violations of Fredette's constitutional rights.

McManus, in his briefs, said the delay in prosecuting the case against Fredette violated the Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial.

The briefs further contend documents from the original 1974 complaints have been either lost or destroyed. The loss of those documents has violated Fredette's right to a fair trial as constitutionally guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, the briefs allege.

Yesterday was the first time Fredette has taken the stand since his arraignment in Superior Court on June 9, 1994. The proceeding before Judge Diane Kottmyer is to hear testimony and take evidence on McManus' motion to dismiss the case, prior to the start of an actual trial.

SAID HE DIDN'T KNOW

Under direct examination by McManus yesterday, Fredette said he did not become aware of a Massachusetts criminal complaint against him until 1992, when he learned of it in news accounts.

At the time, he said, he was living in rural Jailletville, New Brunswick, in a hermitage, the Hermits of Mercy, which he founded in 1984. The hermitage was a retreat and spiritual center for religious and lay members and was supported by donations and limited agricultural industry.

In Canada, he applied for many social and political benefits, including Canadian Social Insurance, Medicare and permission to become a permanent resident as a landed immigrant.

His name, he said, regularly appeared on lists of religious published annually by The Vatican from information supplied by the Assumptionist order, and in the monthly magazine L'Appel, a religious publication with a circulation of about 12,000.

ACCUSER VISITED HIM

He also taught in a local school, was pastor in a parish in Adamsville, New Brunswick, and helped manage the Shrine of the Sacred Heart, a noted Assumptionist pilgrimage in Beauvoir, near Sherbrooke, Quebec. He corresponded regularly with more than 200 friends and members of the Hermitage in Canada, the United States and Europe, he said.

He said one of his accusers, Gary V. Melanson, visited him Canada in 1982.

"It wasn't a social visit," Fredette said. "He was on the run. ... I think it was an arson charge in Worcester. He didn't want to go back; he wanted to go to California."

Fredette said he counseled Melanson to return to Worcester to face the charges. He said he lent Melanson bus fare for the trip and was never repaid.

He noted that Melanson had written many letters to him over the years, including letters written while Melanson was an inmate at the Massachusetts State Prison in Norfolk.

Many of those letters, Fredette said, were addressed to him at the hermitage in Jailletville.

Fredette said he consulted with his spiritual director, the Rev. Fr. Gilles Blouin, vice provencial for the Assumptionist order in Sherbrooke, after learning of the allegations. He also consulted a canon lawyer, he said.

EARLIER KNOWLEDGE

Under cross examination by special prosecutor Herbert F. Travers, Fredette admitted he actually learned of allegations of sexual misconduct against him in 1974, at least a month before he resigned as director of Come Alive Inc., and left Worcester.

He said he left between Feb. 11 and the first week of March 1974, when he received a letter from a board member, James W. Coghlin, acknowledging Fredette's letter of resignation.

Fredette said his first notice of the allegations came from a Department of Youth Services official he identified as Vicky Rankin. He said Rankin, at a Boston conference in 1974, asked him if he knew allegations of improper sexual contact had been made against him by Dana Vyska, one of his charges at Come Alive.

In a subsequent 1974 meeting with Philip Callahan, then chairman of the Come Alive board, and another board member, the allegations were discussed again, Fredette said.

He said Callahan suggested that Fredette "distance" himself from the program.

Fredette denied being confronted about the charges by Officer Thomas Bilzerian, then a member of the Worcester Police Juvenile Division. He also denied being confronted about the allegations by then DYS Director Joseph Levey at a meeting in Boston.

Fredette said he consulted a Worcester lawyer, James Flemming, by telephone, for advice about the allegations prior to leaving Worcester in 1974. He added that Flemming also visited him in Canada soon after he went there to live.

TRAVELS

Fredette said he left Come Alive, where he had been living for four years, almost immediately upon his resignation in 1974 and spent some time living in a rented apartment in Charlton with a Come Alive graduate.

From there, he said, he spent three weeks at an Assumptionist retreat in Cassadaga, N.Y., about a two-hour drive from Buffalo, then went to Sherbrooke, Canada.

He said that upon leaving Cassadaga, he left no forwarding address and did not return to the United States until his extradition last year.

The hearing is scheduled to continue today.

DISMISS CHARGES, PRIEST ASKS COURT Boston Globe June 15, 1995 Author: (AP)

WORCESTER -- A priest who spent more than two decades in Canada after being charged with sexually assaulting children sought dismissal of all charges yesterday. The lawyer for Rev. Joseph A. Fredette sought dismissal because of the length of time that has elapsed since the charges were filed and because not all of the people who brought charges against Fr. Fredette will be testifying. Some of those involved have moved from the area. Prosecutors allege that Fredette, 63, molested boys who were in his care when he ran the Worcester Come Alive program for troubled teen-agers from 1970 to 1974. Fredette fled to Canada in 1974, after he was charged with rape.

 

WORCESTER - The child sexual assault case against the Rev. Joseph A. Fredette was continued in Superior Court yesterday after lawyers for both sides debated issues involved in pretrial discovery motions.

Special prosecutor Herbert F. Travers and defense lawyer Paul J. McManus, in a conference before yesterday's brief hearing, disagreed on whether some of the state's information would be made part of the case records.

Judge James P. Donohue continued the case to Aug. 31 to hear additional motions and requests for discovery.

Fredette, a former Assumptionist priest, was extradited from Canada in June to stand trial in Worcester on charges that he had sexually assaulted boys placed in his care by the state in the early 1970s.

At the time, Fredette was director of Come Alive Inc., a halfway house in Worcester for troubled boys. The boys were sent to Come Alive by the state Department of Youth Services for guidance and counseling.

Fredette lived in and ran the group home for nearly four years. He left Worcester in 1974 as police were investigating allegations that he had sexually assaulted some of the boys at the group home.

A warrant for Fredette's arrest was issued in 1974, but was never served.

Fredette eventually moved to Canada and settled on a 240-acre retreat in rural Jailletville, New Brunswick.

Police and Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte reopened the investigation into the 1974 allegations against Fredette in the summer of 1992 after the Telegram & Gazette reported that Fredette was living in Canada.

Fredette was indicted by a Worcester County grand jury in September and October of 1992 and Conte asked that he be extradited to Massachusetts. The extradition process took nearly two years.

Fredette is being held in lieu of $50,000 cash bail.

WORCESTER - The child sexual assault case against the Rev. Joseph A. Fredette was continued yesterday after a brief pretrial conference in Worcester Superior Court.

Judge James P. Donohue continued the case to Aug. 4 to hear motions and requests for discovery.

Fredette, a former Assumptionist priest, was extradited to Worcester from Canada in June to answer charges he sexually molested boys placed in his care more than 20 years ago.

Fredette was the live-in director of Come Alive Inc. in the early 1970s. Come Alive was a group home for delinquent boys who were sent there for guidance by the state Department of Youth Services.

Fredette left Worcester in 1974 as police were bringing child sexual assault charges against him. Some of the assaults were alleged to have occurred in the Come Alive home.

Fredette eventually moved to Canada and a warrant issued in connection with the 1974 charges was never served.

Police and Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte reopened the case after a Telegram & Gazette investigation in 1992 disclosed Fredette was living on a 240-acre retreat in rural Jailletville, New Brunswick.

Fredette was indicted by a Worcester County Grand Jury twice in 1992 and in December of that year, Gov. William F. Weld approved a request for his extradition to the United States. The extradition process took nearly two years.

Fredette pleaded not guilty and was ordered held on $50,000 cash bail by Judge Maria I. Lopez at his arraignment June 9.

Herbert F. Travers, of the law firm of Travers, Murphy and O'Connor, who was appointed special prosecutor for the case, said yesterday he had not received a request for a bail review.

Fredette is represented by public defender Paul J. McManus.

WORCESTER - Worcester lawyer Herbert F. Travers III has been appointed a special assistant district attorney to prosecute the sexual molestation charges pending against the Rev. Joseph A. Fredette.

Fredette, a 61-year-old priest, was extradited from Canada last week to face charges that he sexually molested boys placed in his care 20 years ago when he was the director of Come Alive Inc., agroup home for delinquent boys in Worcester. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Worcester Superior Court and was ordered held on $50,000 cash bail.

A spokesperson for Conte confirmed yesterday that Travers had been sworn in as special prosecutor in the case. A special prosecutor was appointed, she said, because the three alleged victims were all previously prosecuted by Conte's office, raising a potential conflict of interest.

Lawyer John F. Madaio was named last week as a special prosecutor to handle the case involving one of Fredette's alleged victims, but has been replaced by Travers. Conte was not available for comment.

WORCESTER - The extradition and arraignment of the Rev. Joseph A. Fredette last week reopened a 20-year-old controversy that erupted when allegations first surfaced that the priest had sexually assaulted boys placed in his care by the state.

Some of Fredette's alleged victims and their relatives say his arrest and pending trial have rekindled the anger and frustration they felt years ago when they attempted to confront him with their accusations.

For some who served as employees and directors of the home Fredette operated for boys, his arrest comes as affirmation of concerns they voiced two decades ago.

Fredette was returned to Worcester Wednesday to face child sexual assault charges stemming from two Worcester County grand jury indictments in 1992.

DENIES CHARGES

The priest's lawyer, Paul J. McManus, said during arraignment proceedings Thursday that Fredette's leaving Worcester in 1974 was unrelated to pending sexual abuse allegations. He said Fredette "completely and categorically" denied the charges against him and expected to be exonerated in court.

Fredette, a former member of the Augustinians of the Assumption, lived in a rural Canadian retreat after resigning in 1974 as director of Come Alive Inc., a nonprofit halfway house for delinquent boys that he founded in 1970. In the weeks before he resigned, some Come Alive employees and directors questioned Fredette's handling of the agency's finances and his methods of counseling troubled youths.

Two state Department of Youth Services reports in the 1970s questioned Fredette's counseling style, which was characterized as undisciplined and lax.

`REALITY THERAPY'

Fredette, according to the DYS reports, operated a "very unstructured" program that revolved around him. The reports criticized his apparent unwillingness to delegate authority and adequately train new staff members.

Fredette at the time defended his approach to counseling and discipline at the group home, telling his detractors that his program was based on "reality therapy."

Carol Schmidt, a former chairman of the Come Alive board who was actively involved in issues affecting youth in the 1970s, said she had concerns about the way Fredette was running the home even before the allegations of sexual abuse surfaced.

She once described the group home as having a "country club" atmosphere that was lacking in discipline and complained to other board members that Fredette refused to be held accountable to them.

She eventually resigned and now says she is happy that the allegations against Fredette are being resolved in the courts.

Henry L. Keith, of Newark, Del., was a counselor and later director of the Come Alive after-care program when the allegations against Fredette first arose.

`BLURTED OUT'

Keith said in an interview last week that he first heard about alleged sexual abuse at the home during a counseling session with one of the boys then living at the home. He said the boy "blurted out" during the session that "Father Joe" had been involved with him.

At the time, Keith said, it wasn't clear whether the allegation had substance or was a "smoke screen" to hide other behavior.

He said he began to explore the allegation and talked about it with Robert Kennelly, another counselor.

"I cannot honestly recall what finally led Bob or I to say this is a real deal," Keith said. "I know I recollect there was resistance from certain members of the board ..." He noted that the board consisted mostly of lay people "who were well-meaning, but who just didn't know what to think. Remember, it was 20 years ago.

"Many of us were raised to believe in God and country, and so I think that was the reason for some of the resistance. I personally felt that no one was trying to be malicious or dishonest."

Keith said he was more concerned with what he perceived to be the larger issue of a formal system, in this case the Assumptionist Order, that may have "enabled" abuse to take place.

PRESENT WORRY

He said his worry now is that cases involving suspected abuse "can easily focus on the individual... hang one person and not look at things that need to be looked at in terms of the system."

Keith said he left Come Alive "basically because I couldn't survive on the salary."

Kennelly, now acting regional director of the state Division of Retardation for central Maine, helped bring concerns of possible sexual abuse at the halfway house to the attention of the Come Alive board.

Kennelly said he left Come Alive over the issue and was angered at the time that some board members dismissed the allegations and instead praised Fredette for his work.

"He might have been doing good work," Kennelly said of Fredette. But if sexual abuse was being committed, he added, "that nullifies the good work and puts it in terms from helping to being a damaging force in their lives. I find it hard to accept that anybody would support him."

Kennelly criticized those who knew of the allegations, but "chose not to do anything about it."

Beverly A. Melanson, mother of Gary M. Melanson, one of the boys allegedly abused by Fredette, said she blamed the priest for many of her son's brushes with the law.

Gary Melanson now is incarcerated in the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction in West Boylston and has served time in state prison for larceny and other charges.

"It all goes back to this business with Fredette," she said.

WORCESTER - Amid a crowd of television reporters and photographers and a gallery of spectators that included at least one of his accusers, the Rev. Joseph A. Fredette yesterday denied he sexually molested boys placed in his care 20 years ago.

Fredette, extradited from Canada to the United States Wednesday, pleaded not guilty in a clear but soft voice to seven charges stemming from two Worcester County Grand Jury indictments in 1992.

Fredette, now 61, was the live-in director of Come Alive Inc., a group home for delinquent boys in Worcester where some of the assaults are alleged to have occurred in the early 1970s. He left Worcester in 1974 as police were preparing to bring child sexual assault charges against him.

His court-appointed lawyer, Paul J. McManus, said Fredette "left this jurisdiction for reasons having nothing to do with the (1974) charges."

McManus said Fredette was "completely and categorically" denying the charges and expected to be exonerated in court. Fredette will not grant interviews, however, until his trial ends, the lawyer said.

"We can't try this case in the press," McManus said. "But he's anxious to speak with the press after this is resolved."

In Superior Court yesterday, Fredette stood handcuffed in the defendant's box.

Among the spectators was a man who, as a youngster, was placed in Fredette's care at the Come Alive group home, and the mother of one of the alleged victims. Both watched the proceedings with visible emotion.

The man, Dana M. Vyska, 37, of Pittsfield, has alleged in a separate civil lawsuit in New Hampshire that he was raped by Fredette in the early 1970s while he was living at the group home.

Vyska's accusations are not part of the criminal proceedings in Worcester because his claims deal with alleged events outside Massachusetts. Vyska, according to former Come Alive officials and to his foster mother, Maryann Friedland of Brookfield, had sought their protection from Fredette's alleged sexual assaults as a 15-year-old boy.

They said Vyska's complaints were among those that led to the original Worcester police investigation and a 1974 warrant for Fredette's arrest.

NEAR TEARS

Vyska said he had not seen Fredette since the priest left Worcester. Yesterday he was visibly shaken and on the verge of tears when Fredette was escorted into the courtroom. At one point, it appeared as if he were about to stand when three court officers promptly blocked the aisle between the spectator benches and the defendant's box. There was no disruption of the arraignment.

Judge Maria I. Lopez set bail at $50,000 cash and continued the case to July 11 for a conference.

John F. Madaio, a special prosecutor assigned to handle the portion of the state's case involving Gary M. Melanson, one of the alleged victims, asked that Fredette not be incarcerated in the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction in West Boylston while awaiting trial.

Melanson, Madaio said, is a prisoner in the Worcester County Jail, and putting Fredette there would make it possible for them to meet in jail, which could have serious consequences for the case and the two men.

Lopez ordered Fredette incarcerated in an alternate county lockup. District Attorney John J. Conte did not reveal yesterday where Fredette would be held pending trial.

Conte said, "Now that Father Fredette is back, we hope to bring the cases before the bar of justice in a timely fashion."

SPECIAL PROSECUTOR

He said a special prosecutor was appointed for the part of the case involving Melanson because his office has separate proceedings against Melanson. Appointing a special prosecutor, Conte said, is not unusual when a defendant in one case may be a prosecution witness in another. Such appointments are made, Conte said, to avoid potential conflicts of interest.

Assistant District Attorney Mary Sawicki told the judge the state's case involved three alleged victims who were teen-age residents of the Come Alive group home in the 1970s.

Worcester police, she said, investigated allegations against Fredette of child sexual assault and issued an arrest warrant.

But Fredette, she said, "fled the commonwealth at that time."

"Two years ago, the Worcester Police Department and District Attorney's Office became aware of Father Fredette's whereabouts," Sawicki said. The investigation was reopened and indictments handed down in 1992.

The extradition process took nearly two years, she said.