PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A former Roman Catholic priest who served at several Rhode Island parishes has been indicted on a charge of sexually assaulting a juvenile about 40 years ago, the state attorney general’s office said Monday.
Kevin Fisette, 66, is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday on a charge of first-degree sexual assault, authorities said.
The alleged assault on a boy occurred in Burrillville between Jan. 1, 1981, and Dec. 31, 1982, when Fisette was serving as a deacon at Our Lady of Victory Parish in Hopkinton and as a chaplain at Rhode Island Hospital, officials said.
Fisette, who currently lives in Killingly, Connecticut, was ordained in November 1981.
A message was left with Fisette’s attorney.
He is already on the Diocese of Providence’s list of clergy credibly accused of abuse and was removed from ministry in 2009, which means he cannot act as a priest or present himself as one.
The diocese in a statement said it has cooperated with authorities.
He was removed from ministry after someone contacted the diocese with an allegation of sexual abuse dating to the 1980s that a diocesan investigation deemed credible, the diocese said.
Authorities declined to prosecute Fisette at that time, citing the statute of limitations for second- and third-degree sexual assault, and inconsistencies in the complainant’s statements. But a spokesperson for the attorney general said there is no statute of limitations for first-degree sexual assault.
