Former youth worker sentenced for sex abuse

BANGOR – A man who worked for 25 years with Catholic youth groups in Penobscot and Hancock counties was sentenced Friday in Penobscot County Superior Court to 18 years in prison, with all but five years suspended, for sexually abusing two boys he met through church.

John S. Skinner Sr., 62, of Bar Harbor pleaded guilty Friday to one count of gross sexual assault and one count of gross sexual misconduct.

Both victims participated in youth programs at St. Mary of Lourdes Catholic Church in Lincoln, where Skinner volunteered as an adult supervisor from the late 1980s to 2000.

Skinner also was sentenced to six years of probation with many conditions, including registering as a violent sex offender.

He was indicted in July by the Penobscot County grand jury on six counts of gross sexual assault involving one victim, but five of the counts were dropped because the statute of limitations had expired, according to prosecutors.

“Thank God justice has finally prevailed,” a man who was molested when he was 15 years old by Skinner told the court. “This has affected my life dramatically.”

In 1989, Skinner took the boy to a Red Sox game in Boston. On the return trip, the two stayed in a Portland hotel where Skinner got the boy drunk and then molested him, Alice Clifford, Penobscot County assistant district attorney, said Friday.

Although Skinner technically could not be prosecuted for the incident because it exceeded the statute of limitations, he wanted to plead guilty to it, his attorney, Stephen Smith of Bangor, said Friday.

The stepfather of the victim named in the sexual misconduct charge read a letter from the victim, now 27, who lives out of state.

He was abused between 1990 and 1994 at Skinner’s home in Lincoln when he was the elder man’s ward.

“By manipulating me, you destroyed me inside,” the victim wrote in a letter to the court. “You made me hate myself. You created a self-destructive, suicidal drug addict. I hate you.”

Superior Court Justice Andrew Mead said the law did not allow him to attempt to “quantify the victims’ pain” in imposing a sentence. He accepted the plea agreement but had strongly condemned Skinner’s actions.

“He is a dangerous person and a predator who groomed his innocent and vulnerable victims,” Mead said. “This was a profound breach of trust. Your actions have caused a lot of damage to people, organizations and the public trust in general.”

One of those organizations was the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, whose internal investigator, John Brennan, was in court Friday.

“We have faith in the judicial system,” diocesan spokesman Sue Bernard said Friday about the sentencing. “I’m really sorry for victims that have to relive this pain because of this process. Our greatest sympathy is for the victims first.

“But in this case, we feel very sorry for the literally thousands of volunteers who work with youth in Maine and dedicate their free time to teaching children about God,” Bernard said. “They’re offended by this, too.”

The diocese also has offered to help Skinner’s victims seek counseling. A notice informing parishioners that he might have had contact with youth beginning in the mid-1970s has appeared in more than a dozen church bulletins in Penobscot and Hancock counties.

Two victims have asked the diocese to pay for counseling, according to Bernard.

She also said that the investigation into Skinner’s relationship with the Rev. Paul Coughlin is continuing.

Earlier this month, the diocese placed Coughlin, 69, on temporary administrative leave while his association with Skinner is investigated. Coughlin allowed Skinner to live at the rectory of a South Portland Church where he was pastor from sometime in 2001 to mid-2003.

At his sentencing Friday, Skinner said that he “never sexually violated any youth on any church activity, any church outing or on any church property.”

Instead of speaking to the judge, as is customary, he spoke to the gallery, which included the families of his victims.

In an emotional statement, Skinner admitted to sexually molesting four boys, including his son and a victim in Hancock County. Charges were not filed in those incidents. He also told the court that there were only four victims of his abuse.

“I apologize to each one of you, who I hurt, for the awful perverted sexual abuse that I forced on you,” he said. “It is important for each one of you, who I exploited, to know that none of what I did to you was your fault. You did nothing to deserve the depraved acts that I forced on you.

“I am the only one who is guilty. No one else is to blame, and I take full responsibility.”