Ex-priest accused of church, hospital molestations
Massachusetts bids to keep defrocked priest locked up
TAUNTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- A former altar boy testified Monday that defrocked priest and convicted pedophile James Porter raped him in the early 1960s in a church dressing room and later molested him in his hospital bed as he recovered from pneumonia.
Thomas Kulas, now 52, was one of five victims testifying at a hearing on a bid by prosecutors to keep Porter locked up as a sexually dangerous person.
Porter, who served in the Fall River Diocese, pleaded guilty in 1993 to molesting 28 children. He completed his sentence in January, but prosecutors have petitioned the court to hold the 69-year-old man indefinitely. The five witnesses were among the 28 child victims.
Kulas said he was about 12 when Porter raped him. He said Porter would follow the altar boys into a basement dressing room after Mass at a church in New Bedford.
"I was deathly afraid of him," Kulas said. "He struck the fear of God in me. I would run downstairs as soon as Mass was over and I'd hide."
Kulas said Porter molested him several other times, once in his hospital bed. He said he turned to alcohol and drugs to escape the memories and was an addict by 16.
Outside court, Porter's lawyer, Michael Farrington, said the testimony was outdated and irrelevant. "No matter how you want to look at it, it was 40 years ago," Farrington said.
A judge will determine whether there is enough evidence to hold a trial on the state's request to keep Porter indefinitely at a state treatment center for sexual offenders in Bridgewater.
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