A Roman Catholic priest who has already been charged with sexual assault is facing 10 new charges of sexual impropriety filed by the Greater Sudbury Police Service. Father Bernard Cloutier, 66, was charged earlier this month with five counts of indecent assault and five counts of gross indecency against three male teenaged victims.
The crimes are alleged to have occurred in the 1970s while Cloutier was at Paroisse St. Joseph in Chelmsford and later, at St. Louis de France Church in Espanola.
Staff Sgt Sheilah Weber of the Sudbury police said Cloutier turned himself into police Tuesday, February 5, accompanied by his lawyer, after being notified he was facing more charges.
He appeared in court to have the conditions of his bail release read. They are viturally identical to those on which he was released in June 2007 when he was charged with six counts of sexual impropriety involving two young males.
Those offences are alleged to have occured between 1979 and 1983.
A court order (publication ban) prohibits publication of the evidence and arguments made at the hearing, as well as the conditions of Cloutier’s release.
Cloutier is scheduled to be back in Sudbury court tomorrow, Wednesday, February 20.
A preliminary hearing on the charges laid last summer is scheduled for Sudbury court in May.
Cloutier was charged in June 2007 by city police with two counts of sexual assault, two counts of indecent assault and two counts of gross indecency involving two boys while he was parish priest at St. Mathieu Church on Pionner Road and L’Annonciation Chirch on Northway Avenue in New Sudbury.
Cloutier had been serving as parish priest at Saints Agnes Roman Catholic Church in North Bay when he was charged with the first counts.In December, he was scheduled to appear at a preliminary hearing May 5.
Weber said there is a possibility that all the charges against Cloutier might be dealt with at the same preliminary hearing.
Bishop Jean-Louis Plouffe, the spiritual head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie, said, “The only consolation is that these are (old) cases.”
Plouffe added Cloutier was relieved of his duties at Saint Agnes in North Bay last year when the first set of charges were brought against him.
He also noted that he had been contacted by police before the latest round of charges were laid against Cloutier.
Cloutier has been living in North Bay with family members since he was removed from his parish.
Like other priests facing or convicted of charges of sexual misconduct in the diocese, Cloutier is now only allowed to say Mass privately.
Plouffe added Cloutier will be responsible for paying his own defence lawyer and, “is entitled to a fair hearing like any other citizen.”
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