Two former priests who ministered at Holy Ghost Church in Tiverton in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s are on a list of dozens of clergy members “credibly accused” or known to have committed sexual crimes released in early July by state Attorney General Peter Neronha.

Father William O’Connell, who served from 1967 to 1972, and Father Paul Charland, who served from 1986 to 1990, are among a group of 72 priests cited in the report released following the passage of legislation that allows the victims of childhood sexual abuse to sue the Diocese of Providence or any other institution that failed to stop, or concealed, abuse.

The legislation also removes previously expired time limits on lawsuits filed by victims against the diocese and other institutions. A two-year “revival period” during which those expired complaints can move forward, runs through the end of June, 2028.

Father William O’Connell

According to information provided to AG Neronha by the Diocese and compiled in the 286-page report, Father William O’Connell, who died in 1996 at age 74, was accused of abusing at least 23 boys between 1950 and 1985 and investigators concluded he was "one of the worst serial child abusers in Rhode Island history."

Over his long tenure with the Diocese he was assigned to many parishes across Rhode Island including Block Island, East Providence, South Kingstown, West Warwick, Central Falls, Bristol and Tiverton from 1967 to 1972.

One complainant, an altar server at Holy Ghost Church, told authorities that Father O’Connell molested him twice during his time in Tiverton.

Father O’Connell was indicted in 1985 on 26 various counts connected to three other alleged victims not associated with the Holy Ghost cases, and in 1996 pleaded no contest to a total of 12 counts of second-degree sexual assault, 10 counts of soliciting, two counts of exploiting minors, and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of minors. He was sentenced to five years of prison, with four years suspended, and ordered to undergo treatment.

He was formally suspended by Bishop Louis Gelineau in April 1988 but “it does not appear that the Diocese took any steps” to dismiss him from the priesthood and “the Diocese continued to financially support O’Connell until 1994,” the report notes.

That year, as he supplemented his Diocese of Providence payments by working as a photographer in Jew Jersey churches, O’Connell was arrested in Lower Township, N.J. on 20 counts after parents complained that O’Connell was behaving inappropriately.

A police search of his home by police uncovered thousands of photos of naked boys and O’Connell was charged with multiple counts of obscenity, child endangerment, sexual contact and sexual assault.

He pled guilty and received a 10-year sentence at a New Jersey treatment center. He died two years later.

Father Paul Charland

Father Charland, who was first assigned to a parish by the Diocese in 1971 and retired while suspended in 2011, was accused of sexually assaulting at least two girls in the 1980s and 1990s.

Assigned to Holy Ghost parish from 1986 to 1990, “his personnel file reveals that the Diocese received multiple complaints about his inappropriate behavior with girls and women during his tenure, though there are no specific allegations beyond those of the two girls. Although Charland's conduct was reported to, and investigated by, the Rhode

Island State Police, he was never criminally charged as prosecution of the second-degree sexual assault allegations of the girls was foreclosed by the applicable three-year statute of limitations,” the report reads.

Bishop Thomas Tobin suspended Charland from the ministry in 2011 after an adult woman alleged that he inappropriately hugged and kissed her.