Ex-Priest Jailed 20 Years After Alleged Abuses

A former Roman Catholic priest accused of molesting dozens of children more than 20 years ago was arrested Monday in Minnesota on a Massachusetts warrant alleging sexual assault, authorities said.

James R. Porter, 57, was taken into custody in his hometown of Oakdale, Minn., said a spokeswoman for the Washington County (Minn.) sheriff’s office.

A lawyer for some of Porter’s accusers, Roderick MacLeish, said prosecutors indicted Porter on 46 sexual abuse counts involving 32 people.

Porter left the priesthood in the early 1970s and now is married and has four children. He admitted this summer that he had molested “a number of children” while he was a priest, but said he stopped after leaving the priesthood.

Porter also faces lawsuits in New Mexico and Minnesota alleging child molestation. In all, more than 80 people have accused Porter of molesting them.

Porter served at three Massachusetts parishes. He also underwent treatment for pedophilia in New Mexico, according to lawsuits against him, and worked at a church in Bemidji, Minn.

The lawsuits also accuse Catholic Church officials of transferring Porter from parish to parish despite knowing of the accusations.

Calls to Porter’s attorney, Peter DeGelleke of Concord, Mass., were not returned Monday.

Allegations of sexual abuse by clergymen have been increasing, and in Chicago, the nation’s second-largest archdiocese on Monday announced a toll-free hot line and an independent board to investigate priests accused of molesting children. All allegations will be reported to the state agency that handles child-abuse cases