State will not pursue charges against diocese

AUGUSTA – State prosecutors have no plans to file criminal charges against the Diocese of Portland for its handling of sexual abuse allegations against priests, a top official said Monday.

“From our review to date of files, we did not see the basis for any criminal action against the diocese,” said Leanne Robbin, who heads the financial and civil rights divisions of the Attorney General’s Office.

Prosecutors in several states, including Massachusetts, have convened grand juries to consider possible criminal charges against church leaders.

State prosecutors in Maine have talked to abuse victims and reviewed the diocese’s personnel files on priests accused of abuse. Last week the Attorney General’s Office gave local prosecutors all the information it gathered.

Maine’s eight district attorneys could still bring criminal charges against the diocese or priests within their jurisdictions. But prosecutors must first determine whether the cases fall within the state’s statute of limitations, Robbin said.

Current state law allows cases of gross sexual assault involving minors to be prosecuted if the assault took place in 1985 or later.

Any district attorney bringing criminal charges against the diocese would have to be able to prove criminal behavior within the local jurisdiction. Stephanie Anderson, the district attorney in Cumberland County, where the Portland chancery is located, would not say whether she might pursue such charges.

Robbin said the Attorney General’s Office would assist local prosecutors if abuse allegations involve a priest crossing county lines.

“Other than that, our role really is over,” she said.

David Gagnon, who claims he was abused by the Rev. Michael Doucette, a now-inactive priest who was transferred to a Madawaska parish after Bishop Joseph Gerry became aware of the allegation against him, called the decision by state prosecutors not to pursue criminal charges against the diocese “profoundly disappointing.”

“I’m not sure why they would want to protect the church,” he said. “I’m puzzled by that.”