'Monster' Pedophile Priest Shanley Set to Go Free

'We fear for the safety of children,' says SNAP
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 26, 2017 6:03 AM CDT
'Monster' Pedophile Priest Shanley Set to Go Free
Defrocked priest Paul Shanley is seen following his sentencing in Middlesex Superior Court in Cambridge, Mass., on Feb. 15, 2005.   (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

A pedophile priest is scheduled to be released from prison in Massachusetts within days, drawing outrage from the families of his alleged victims who say he's a threat to children. Paul Shanley, 86, was sentenced in 2005 to 12 to 15 years in prison for the rape of a young boy at his parish in the Boston suburb of Newton between 1983 and 1989, though some two dozen others have also accused him of abuse beginning in the 1960s, report WCVB and the Boston Globe. Victims' attorneys say Shanley logged time for good behavior while behind bars and will be freed this week, likely on Friday. Prosecutors had tried to keep Shanley locked up by declaring him a "sexually dangerous person," but doctors found he didn't fit the legal criteria.

Upon his release from Old Colony Correctional Facility in Bridgewater, Shanley will begin 10 years of supervised probation. He must also register as a sex offender and avoid contact with children under 16, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan tells CNN. But "people need to know this is a monster who is going to be let out of prison, and age and frailty don't mean anything," says the father of one alleged victim who claims his abuse by Shanley began at just 6 years old. "We fear for the safety of children," adds a rep for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "Age does not cure pedophilia. Often age gives predators an advantage. People may see an old man and assume he is harmless. That is not the case." (More priest sex abuse stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X