with indecent assault last autumn.
Rev. Linus Bastien, who served as a priest in Essex County, was arrested on Jan. 11 and charged with indecent assault, gross indecency, sexual assault and sexual interference following complaints from seven victims.
The events date to 1970-1977 and 1988-1989 when Bastien was serving at St. Paul’s Catholic Church in LaSalle and St. Joachim Parish in Lakeshore.
The alleged victims were students at the former St. Paul’s school and St. Ambroise school.
Bastien, 85, has been released on a promise to appear in court on Feb. 14 in Windsor.
Four previous charges against Bastien will be spoken to in court today.
The four previous charges were laid this autumn after two former altar boys from St. Mary’s Parish in Maidstone filed complaints with police.
Bastien’s last posting before retiring was as chaplain at Grace Hospital. He served as a priest in Windsor and the surrounding region from 1951 until he retired in 1997.
The diocese of London declined to comment on the latest set of charges and referred The Star to a statement released in October 2011 after the first set of allegations surfaced.
“The Diocese is saddened by the news,” the statement said. “The Diocese of London takes any allegation very seriously and co-operates fully with the authorities investigating them.”
With files from Sarah Sacheli
bfantoni@windsorstar.com or Twitter.com/bfantoni
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