The Archdiocese of Boston clergy sex-abuse scandal has taken a new turn, with the release of one of the few priests sent to prison.
Defrocked priest Robert V. Gale, assigned to a Waltham parish in the 1980s, was released Saturday from the Massachusetts Treatment Center for the Sexually Dangerous in Bridgewater.
Gale was sentenced in late 2004 to serve four to five years in prison after pleading guilty to raping an altar boy in the early 1980s at a Waltham parish. Gale was transferred to St. Jude's in Waltham, and put in charge of the altar boys there, after three Quincy families complained in 1979 to regional bishop Monsignor Daniel A. Hart in Brockton that Gale had sexually assaulted their sons in the rectory of St. Joseph's.
Though he was never charged on the accusations from Quincy, the archdiocese settled for $80,000 with a city native and former Rockland resident who said Gale raped him at a Catholic summer camp.
One of Gale's Waltham victims, Martin Crowley, said he was disappointed to learn Gale was released nine months early for good behavior.
"I received closure because he admitted guilt," said Crowley, who now lives out of state and from 1980 to 1984 was one of the altar boys Gale supervised. "But I feel bad for his other victims."
Now 67 and a Level 3 sex offender living in Everett, Gale is one of only five archdiocesan priests convicted since the clergy scandal surfaced in 2002. The others are John Geoghan, John Hanlon, Paul Shanley and Jesuit priest James Talbot.
Hanlon, Shanley and Talbot are still in Massachusetts prisons. Geoghan was murdered in his prison cell in Shirley in 2003.
The whereabouts of most defrocked or restricted priests remain hidden, because of the archdiocese's confidentiality rules or because the archdiocese has lost contact with estranged priests. Gale's future and location, by contrast, will be a matter of public record.
Gale will be on probation for 25 years. According to the state sex offender registry, he's living at 41 Revere St. in Everett, on a side street near Revere Beach Parkway and Everett Memorial Stadium.
The state probation department says Gale has asked to transfer his probation to New Hampshire, where he grew up. But Granite State officials have yet to approve the request.
Since Gale is defrocked, the archdiocese will have no contact with him. It does supervise priests who are suspended or otherwise restricted.
Under archdiocesan policy, church officials inform law enforcement authorities if they're told of any new abuse allegations by defrocked or restricted priests.
Hanlon, Shanley and Geoghan were also defrocked.
Hanlon is serving three life sentences at the Bay State prison in Norfolk.
Shanley is serving a 12-15 year sentence at the Old Colony prison in Bridgewater, and has appealed for a new trial.
Geoghan was defrocked in 1998, convicted in 2002 of fondling a Waltham boy in 1991. He is believed to have molested about 130 children.
Lane Lambert may be reached at llambert@ledger.com.
