DISGRACE

Fugitive New Mexico Priest Arrested in Child Sex-Abuse Case

Arthur J. Perrault, who disappeared in 1992, has been accused of abusing 38 boys.

Arthur J. Perrault, a fugitive priest accused of abusing at least 38 boys before going off the grid in 1992, was arrested Thursday in New York, according to court documents released Friday. The 80-year-old has been charged with criminal aggravated sexual abuse and abusive sexual contact in an indictment that alleges Perrault abused a boy under the age of 12 while he was a chaplain at Kirtland Air Force base between 1991 and 1992. Details of the arrest were unclear, but authorities had been tracking Perrault, who spent time living and teaching children in Morocco. According to state court documents, Perrault is accused of abusing dozens of victims in New Mexico from the mid-1960s until he fled the state in October 1992 after several alleged victims reported him to the Albuquerque Police Department. Perrault denied abuse allegations in a letter responding to a civil lawsuit in 2016. In that case, a judge entered a default judgment against Perrault and awarded the victim $16 million in damages.