Priest Pleads Not Guilty To Molestation

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--A Roman Catholic priest pleaded innocent Thursday to charges he molested an 11-year-old altar boy.

Rev. Paul Manning, 53, who has been on leave of absence from St. Charles Borromeo Parish of Woburn, is charged with indecent assault and battery.

The alleged victim denies Manning attacked him.

Prosecutors say Rev. Paul Sughrue saw the Sept. 5 incident and reported it to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. Manning denies the allegation.

Sughrue said he looked through the open door of Manning's office and saw Manning with the boy, according to the indictment.

"His attention was drawn because he'd heard five sharp painful screams and he knew the screams belonged to the boy," said Assistant Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley said.

Sughrue said he saw four legs intertwined and two bodies moving rhythmically. He said he walked away and when he returned a minute later, he saw the boy pulling up his underwear, according to the indictment.

At first, the boy said he was molested by Manning. The boy now denies any indecent touching, said Coakley.

"A lot of kids recant when they disclose something," she said. "Rarely does a sexual assault case have a witness.

We were in a position of going to a child who might not have been ready to discuss what happened."

Coakley said her office will continue the investigation based on Sughrue's testimony.

Manning is to return to court Jan. 24. His lawyer Eileen Donoghue, of Lowell, did not return phone calls yesterday.