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CNN Live Today

Shanley To Go Before Extradition Hearing

Aired May 03, 2002 - 11:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Up first this hour on CNN, Crisis in the Priesthood. Perhaps the most notorious figure in the Catholic Church sex-abuse scandal goes to court this hour in San Diego. And, CNN is standing by for live coverage. Prosecutors will try to get the retired priest Paul Shanley extradited to Boston. He is in custody today in southern California, charged with child rape.

Our CNN correspondents, Frank Buckley and Jason Carroll are working the story on both sides of the country today. Frank, let's start with you, in San Diego. Good morning.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. What we're about to witness in about a half an hour here in San Diego in a courtroom is the beginning of the legal process that will ultimately result in Paul Shanley returning to Massachusetts to face criminal charges. Three counts were filed by the Middlesex County district attorney of child rape. Shanley has been here in California since 1990, and we found out that, even then, he was practicing priest. And even then, very few people knew he was a priest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

The Paul Shanley arrested in San Diego was, by all outward appearances, a well-regarded senior citizen, police volunteer, who lived in this apartment complex. But there was another life before San Diego, here in Palm Springs, California, where, in the early '90s, he was a co-owner with another man, who identified himself as an ex- priest of this building, which was back then the Cabana Club, a bed and breakfast inn popular with gay men. John Kendrick and Carter Poust (ph) are co-owners of a gay men's resort in the same area. They were surprised to learn that Shanley was once a priest.

JOHN KENDRICK, RESORT OWNER: It just never occurred to me that - I thought he was the friend of an ex-priest. But it never occurred to me that he might have been a priest himself.

BUCKLEY: Until Shanley's name surfaced in connection with the priest abuse scandal in Boston, his fellow residents at the apartment complex in San Diego had no idea either.

MEL LEE, APARTMENT MANAGER: He paid his rent on time and never created any disturbances, and was always helpful to the tenants. In fact, he saved the life of one of our tenants.

BUCKLEY: Samuel Goldberg's life. He collapsed one day, and Shanley got an ambulance there quickly.

SAMUEL GOLDBERG, NEIGHBOR: He was a very courteous, very affable gentlemen, very alert and intelligent. Never knew that he was a priest.

BUCKLEY: In San Diego, Shanley was a volunteer with the San Diego Police Department, and police didn't know about Shanley's past either. In his application, he listed himself as retired and a former hotel director.

DAVE COHEN, SAN DIEGO POLICE: Mr. Shanley apparently did an outstanding job for us. There were no complaints that we are aware of whatsoever from anybody he came in contact with or with whom he might have worked.

BUCKLEY: Among those who did know that Shanley was a priest, officials at the diocese of San Bernardino, California. Shanley began serving here as part-time supply priest in 1990, performing the occasional mass. What San Bernardino diocese officials didn't know was what Boston church officials had known for years, that there were allegations of child molestation against Shanley. Still, Boston church officials said, in a letter to the San Bernardino diocese, that Shanley was a priest in good standing.

REV. HOWARD LINCOLN, DIOCESE OF SAN BERNARDINO: We were deceived that this was wrong, and we're disappointed that we did not receive the truth, the background of Father Shanley. He would never have served on our diocese had we known this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BUCKLEY: So, in about a half an hour, Shanley will appear in this courtroom in San Diego. A magistrate will explain to him that he is wanted on a fugitive warrant from Massachusetts. He will be given an opportunity to say that he waives the right to fight extradition to Massachusetts, or he can say he wants to fight that extradition to Massachusetts. That could delay things. But ultimately, legal experts say he will end up back in Massachusetts to face charges. Daryn?

KAGAN: Frank, if you could just explain to me why now. If these are charges of things that supposedly happened in 1980s, why is Shanley being arrested at this point?

BUCKLEY: Well, the victim in this case is a man who is 24 years old now. He said he was six years old at the time of the alleged crime. He says he had repressed the memory and that just recently, as all of the publicity has come out regarding the priest child sex abuse scandal in Boston, that he began to have those memories come forward. At that point, the district attorney's office became involved, when this man went forward to the DA's office. The DA's office investigated and moved forward.

Two television stations ultimately found Shanley. He's been, as you will recall, a part of this scandal - the center, really of scandal - for a couple of months now. And two television stations, WBZ from Boston, and KFMB here in San Diego, finally found him here in San Diego. And finally yesterday, Shanley was arrested.

KAGAN: Frank Buckley in San Diego. Thank you very much. As you know, of course all roads lead back to Boston and the 1980 at Catholic Churches in the Boston area. CNN's Jason Carroll is in Boston. He has reaction to the arrest. Jason, good morning.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn. I think I can tell you that a number of people connected to this case see the arrest of Father Paul Shanley as somewhat encouraging sign. Also, a number of people are anxious to see Father Shanley brought back here to Boston, namely, the district attorney of Middlesex County. As you heard Frank Buckley say a little bit earlier, Shanley faces three counts of rape of a child. The case involves Paul Busa. Busa is 24 years old, and Shanley allegedly raped Busa when he was just six years old.

MARTHA COAKLEY, MIDDLESEX DISTRICT ATTORNEY: The young man disclosed that father Shanley said to him that if he told, no one would believe him. And he believed that at the time. He indicated he was six years old, that he was very fond of Father Paul Shanley, as was everybody in the parish. He never told anybody until, as he indicated, much of the press around what has been happening, not only with Father Paul Shanley, but with his church, brought him to make these disclosures.

CARROLL: Not only does Shanley face criminal charges, he also faces a separate civil suit involving Greg Ford. Ford claims that Shanley also sexually abused him when he was six years old. This morning, Ford's father told Paula Zahn he is relieved to see that Shanley is finally behind bars.

RODNEY FORD, FATHER OF ALLEGED VICTIM: I was glad to finally see him being taken into the police cruiser and being taken away to jail. This man is a monster. He needed to be removed from the streets immediately. He will never get at another child again.

CARROLL: The man standing next to Ford during that interview is Roderick MacLeish, Ford's attorney. He is still waiting to dispose Shanley in that civil suit. He said it should be much easier to do that now that he knows exactly where Shanley is. Daryn?

KAGAN: Jason Carroll in Boston. Thanks very much.

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