Inmate, priest in prison romance?

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By Sentinel and Enterprise

Published: 12/29/2003

Convicted sex offender William Lamontagne says he had a romantic relationship with a Fitchburg, Mass. priest who allegedly funneled stolen money to him.
"He came before everybody in my life," Lamontagne told the Sentinel & Enterprise during an interview inside the Massachusetts Treatment Center for the Sexually Dangerous.
Investigators have charged the Rev. Donald Ouellette, pastor of the Immaculate Conception Parish in Fitchburg, with stealing more than $250,000 from the church.
He faces 18 counts of larceny over $250 and is free on bail while awaiting trial.
Ouellette, 49, grew up in Leominster and has served in the Worcester Diocese since his 1990 ordination.
Lamontagne said he called Ouellette collect on a daily basis over several years, and he said the priest visited him regularly in prison.
Leominster attorney Michael McEvilly, who represents the priest, said his client denies having a relationship with Lamontagne other than as a prison minister.
The convicted sex offender told the Sentinel & Enterprise Ouellette bought him a radio, television, hot pots, fans, a walkman, headphones, and covered child support the prisoner owed a 19-year-old daughter who lives with Lamontagne's ex-wife in Maine.
Letters addressed to Lamontagne from the state of Maine have arrived for years at the Lunenburg church where Ouellette once served as associate pastor before becoming pastor at Immaculate Conception in 2001, according to the prisoner and confirmed by a letter sent to him from Monsignor Thomas Sullivan, chancellor of the Worcester Diocese.
The letters continued to arrive this fall to the church pastor, the Rev. Edward Niccolls, according to the monsignor's letter.
Lamontagne said he remembered the first time Ouellette called him, while he was a priest at St. Patrick's Church in Whitinsville.
He said Ouellette helped set up a will that would include calling hours at the Linwood church where Lamontagne once served as an altar boy, something Lamontagne's family could not afford.
As the years passed, Lamontagne said Ouellette set up two credit accounts in the prisoner's name, one a Visa Classic from Providian Bank in New Hampshire, the other a Capitol One Account that has maxed its $1,200 limit.
The prisoner showed a copy of a Capitol One account statement, which lists Lamontagne as the owner, but lists the address as 59 Walnut St., in Fitchburg, the home of the Immaculate Conception Church.
Lamontagne also showed pages of prison financial documents that show how much money Ouellette would send to Lamontagne on any given week, sometimes just $20 and other times $160. The Worcester County District Attorney's office has subpoenaed the documents.
Lamontagne said fellow inmates and correction officers taunted him about the relationship, and one correction officer reported an incident about six years ago when Ouellette allegedly touched Lamontagne in the officer's presence.
State police and later the diocese arrived to question Lamontagne about the priest. Sullivan urged Lamontagne to tell him and Bishop Daniel Reilly what Ouellette had done in a letter sent on Nov. 22.
Lamontagne is up for parole after spending 14 years in prison for two separate sex offenses, one involving the molestation of a 4-year-old girl and the other for orchestrating the armed rape of an adult woman.
He remains in the Bridgewater facility with more than 500 other sex offenders as he awaits a civil trial to determine his risk to re-offend.
Ouellette remains on administrative leave from the church, but officials said he cannot be canonically removed as pastor without good reason.

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