In search of justice

Two recent stories. Connect the dots.

A Roman Catholic priest yesterday drew three years in prison for raping two altar boys at a Cranston church, marking the first time in 19 years that a priest of the Diocese of Providence has been sent to prison for sex abuse. . .

Abuse allegations dogged Father Azzarone well before he committed the crimes that sent him to prison. . .

The last priest in the diocese to serve time for sex abuse, the Rev. William C. O'Connell, a former pastor at St. Mary Church in Bristol, pleaded no contest in 1986 to 26 counts of sexual contact with three teenage boys. He was given one year to serve.

Michael Anthony Mullen, 36, made a brief court appearance Tuesday in Whatcom County Superior Court, about 80 miles north of here, after turning himself in to Bellingham police Monday afternoon.

Mullen, a longtime resident of Whatcom County with a history of petty crimes, faces charges in the Aug. 26 shooting deaths of Hank Eisses, 49, and Victor Vasquez, 68. Both victims were Level III sex offenders, considered the most likely to commit similar crimes again.

Posted by David on September 8, 2005 11:36 AM