Grand jury indicts former RI priest on charge of raping a boy

PROVIDENCE — A grand jury has indicted a former Catholic priest in the rape of a boy between 1981 and 1982 in Burrillville.

Kevin Fisette, 66, of Dayville, Connecticut, is charged with a single count of first-degree sexual assault. He is set to be arraigned Wednesday in Superior Court, Providence.

Attorney general's office spokesman Blake Collins said no arrest warrant was issued for Fisette and he is expected to appear in court.

Fisette was removed from the ministry by the Diocese of Providence in August 2009 but never laicized or removed as a member of the clergy, according to a news release from the attorney general's office.

Read: The indictment charging Kevin Fisette with first-degree sexual assault

Fisette was a pastor at the St. Leo the Great Church in Pawtucket when a "credible allegation" was reported to state police in 2009, according to Providence Journal archives.

AG investigation: R.I. Catholic Diocese to turn over 70 years of records to attorney general

State police Capt. David Neill told The Providence Journal in 2009 that they investigated the allegations from 1981 and found "they were credible," but prosecutors determined there was not "a viable case to file" because of the statute of limitations and inconsistencies in the alleged victim's recollections.

Fisette appeared on the diocese's list of "credibly accused" clergy in 2019, which led to his being fired from Goodwill, where he was the director of donated goods and a volunteer coordinator.

In 2019, Fisette's accuser, reached by phone, said he stood by his account of sexual abuse by Fisette.

Collins said the indictment stemmed from Attorney General Peter Neronha's review of more than 70 years of diocese records, but said he could not say whether the victim in this case is the same one who brought forward allegations in 2009.

While the attorney general's office in 2009 said part of the reason for not prosecuting the case was the statute of limitations, the charge against Fisette, first-degree sexual assault, carries no statute of limitations.

Fisette was appointed a deacon in the Our Lady of Victory Parish in Hopkinton in January 1981, and as a chaplain at Rhode Island Hospital in December 1981. He was ordained as a priest in November 1981.

He went on to assignments at St. Mary Church in Cranston from 1982 to 1985; St. Catherine of Siena Church in Warwick from 1985 to 1990; St. James Church in West Warwick from 1990 to 1993; SS. Peter & Paul Church in West Warwick from 1993 to 1997; Holy Name of Jesus Church in Providence from 1997 to 2004; and St. Leo the Great Church in Pawtucket from 2004 to 2009.

Diocese spokesman Michael Kieloch in a statement, all the files connected with Fisette were available to the attorney general's office in 2009, when it declined to prosecute the case.

A court document provided by Kieloch from 2009 outlines why then-Attorney General Patrick Lynch's office declined to prosecute, including that that was no evidence of force or coercion and that there was "insufficient credible evidence of concealment or surprise" as well as inconsistencies in the alleged victim's statements and the ability of him to remember things from 27 years ago.

Fisette is the fourth priest to be indicted following Neronha's investigation.

In November 2021, a grand jury indicted former priest James Silva on 11 counts of sexually assaulting a boy younger than 14 between 1989 and 1990 while he was an administrator in the Office of Ministerial Formation within the Diocese of Providence.

In May 2021, a grand jury indicted former priest Edward Kelley in a 1983 rape in North Smithfield. He has since been found incompetent to stand trial, according to the news release.

In November 2020, John Petrocelli was indicted on three counts of first-degree child molestation and nine counts of second-degree child molestation from his time as an assistant pastor at Holy Family Parish in Woonsocket between Nov. 6, 1981 and Oct. 3, 1990.

Priest still being paid $2,000 a month

Removal from the ministry means that a priest no longer has permission from the bishop to act as a priest and perform functions such as hearing confessions, preaching homilies, celebrating Mass or wearing clerical attire, said the Rev. Timothy Reilly, the chancellor for the Diocese of Providence, in 2019. But priests who are removed from the ministry are still priests.

Kieloch wrote in a statement that Bishop Thomas Tobin removed Fisette from the ministry after an alleged victim contacted the diocese.

Fisette, who has not been defrocked, is receiving $2,000 a month from the diocese, plus health and dental insurance coverage, Kieloch wrote in an email.

"In accordance with Canon Law, the binding legal statutes of the Catholic Church, the diocese is required to provide for the basic sustenance of priests, which includes those priests who are removed from ministry and have no faculties such as Kevin Fisette," he wrote.

Aug. 4, 2019: Goodwill let accused priest visit R.I. schools

July 26, 2019: Goodwill fires man on diocese's abuser list

July 23, 2019: R.I. Catholic Diocese to turn over 70 years of records to attorney general

July 1, 2019: Diocese releases list of clergy 'credibly accused' of sex abuse

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Reach reporter Wheeler Cowperthwaite at wcowperthwaite@providencejournal.com.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Kevin Fisette, former Burrillville priest, indicted on rape charges