Laurence LaPointe, 81, a resident of Putnam (Connecticut) and a priest of the Diocese of Norwich, pleaded guilty on Wednesday, November 4, before the Circuit Court of the City of Baltimore to one count of fourth-degree sexual offense and one count of common-law assault for abusing a minor in the mid-1970s. This was announced by Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown in a press release from his office. Judge Charles H. Dorsey III sentenced him to three years in prison, fully suspended, and five years of supervised probation.
Among the conditions of the supervised probation are a ban on any direct contact with minors under 18, a prohibition on working or volunteering in educational settings with minors, and a ban on approaching the victim, as well as the requirement to undergo a psychosexual evaluation and any recommended treatment.
The facts: a game of chess in the chaplain’s apartment
According to the prosecution, LaPointe was then temporarily assigned to Gilman School in Baltimore as chaplain and religion teacher. Around 1976 or 1977, when he was just over 30, he invited a high-school student to his apartment on campus, where, during a game of what he called “strip chess,” he touched the minor and ordered him to remain silent. The investigation was conducted by the Maryland Attorney General’s Office, and the case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorneys General Ashley Pamer and Jennifer Matteson.
The victim speaks almost half a century later
In his statement to the court, the victim said that “my desire for privacy could no longer outweigh my desire to see him held accountable,” while Judge Dorsey expressed the hope that the memories would no longer “hold him captive.” For his part, Attorney General Brown emphasized in the release that “those who were sexually assaulted as children continue to carry the weight of that trauma long after reaching adulthood.”
The Archdiocese of Baltimore maintains on its website a list of priests and religious accused of abusing minors, although LaPointe belongs to the Diocese of Norwich in Connecticut and his assignment in Baltimore was temporary.