AUGUSTA – A Superior Court judge has cleared the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland in the final count of a lawsuit alleging sexual abuse by a former priest against a young boy.

The ruling says the diocese did not fraudulently conceal information about acts committed by Raymond Melville that would have alerted the alleged victim or his family to any danger.

William Picher of Augusta accused Melville of sexually abusing him while he was a student at St. Mary’s School from September 1986 to June 1988. Melville was ordained in Presque Isle in 1985, and his initial assignment was assistant pastor at St. Mary’s Parish in Augusta.

Picher, now 38, filed his complaint in 2007. He also accused the diocese of covering up knowledge of previous sex abuse complaints against Melville.

The case never went to trial because Justice Donald Marden granted summary judgment in favor of the diocese on the case’s outstanding count. Marden’s 14-page ruling was filed Monday in Kennebec County Superior Court.

In 1990, a Maryland man wrote to then-Portland Bishop Joseph Gerry, saying he had been “emotionally, sexually and physically abused” as a teenager by Melville from 1980 to 1985, when Melville was a seminarian studying to be a priest in Baltimore.

“Fear of public knowledge about what was going on forced me to remain silent,” the Maryland man, who has not been publicly identified, wrote to the bishop. “The possible tragedy of another young boy being a victim compels me to write this letter.”

In June 1990, Gerry sent Melville to counseling in Minneapolis. Melville had returned to Maine by August 1990, when he was transferred to St. Joseph’s in Lewiston. He later served parishes in Rumford and Machias.

“The diocese is relieved that the facts of the case are clear to the court,” said Sue Bernard, spokeswoman for the Diocese of Portland. “The evidence shows that the first complaint of sexual abuse by Melville was received in 1990 and unfortunately could not have prevented abuse from 1986 to 1988 as reported by Mr. Picher.”

Melville, now 70, defaulted after failing to respond to Picher’s 2007 court complaint and was ordered to pay Picher $4.2 million in damages.

“We’ve collected very little money on the judgment,” Picher’s attorney, Sumner Lipman, said Thursday.

Lipman said Melville previously lived in Oklahoma but appears to have relocated to North Carolina.

Bernard said Melville was granted a leave of absence from active ministry in 1997 at his request “and has not had any ministry since that time.”

“Technically, he is still a priest,” Bernard said. “In 2005 we sent his case to Rome requesting he be returned to the lay state, and that case is still pending.”

Even with the Superior Court ruling, Picher’s case is not over.

“We are going to appeal the decision, and we disagree with some of the findings that (Marden) made,” Lipman said.

The case has already been to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, which upheld a decision granting the diocese summary judgment on the basis of charitable immunity.

But the state’s high court sent it back to the Superior Court for findings on the fraudulent concealment allegation.

Lipman said the entire case will be appealed.

Kennebec Journal Staff Writer Betty Adams can be contacted at 621-5631 or at:

badams@centralmaine.com