Former Farmington priest pleads to sex crimes
A former priest at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in Farmington has pleaded to several sex crime charges from the 1970s involving young boys, including two brothers.
During a hearing held via Zoom on Monday morning before Judge Daniel O’Brien of Oakland
County Circuit Court, Gary Berthiaume, 79, pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and no contest to one count of gross indecency. In exchange for his pleas, Assistant Attorney General Danielle Russo Bennetts dismissed two other counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and one other count of gross indecency.
The pleas were entered as a Killebrew Agreement, which is a plea deal between the prosecutor and defense attorney regarding sentencing. If the judge doesn’t follow the agreement at sentencing, scheduled for Dec. 20, Berthiaume will have the opportunity to withdraw the plea which could bring the cases to trial.
Sentencing guidelines for second-degree criminal sexual conduct call for one year and one day to 15 years in prison. Gross indecency is punishable by one year and one day to five years in prison. The sentences would be served concurrently.
In his plea, Berthiaume admitted touching penises of two boys after bringing them to the church rectory. One case involved a 14-yearold in 1977 and the other involved a boy, age 13-15, in 1976-1977. Berthiaume was in his 30s at the time. He knew the boys from the parish, and admitted what he did was “coercive” behavior.
Berthiaume’s no contest plea was for a case involving the brother of one of the other victims that reportedly happened at a sauna house in Southfield in 1972 or 1973, where he took the boy following a skiing trip. The boy was age 13-15 at the time. Berthiaume said he remembered taking the boy to the sauna but didn’t recall touching his genitals. He also said he remembered the boy being honest at that time, and that “If he said it, it may have happened.”
The victims were treated to various outings by Berthiaume, who acted as their “mentor,” according to Bennetts.
Berthiaume was arrested in September 2020 at his home in Warrendale, Illinois following an investigation by the Michigan
Attorney General’s Office. He’s one of several individuals with connections to the Catholic Church who have been charged with crimes by the Michigan AG’s office following the seizure of a vast amount of documents in 2018.
Berthiaume also had a prior run-in with the law regarding sexual misconduct. In 1977, he was arrested for sexual assault of two children in Michigan and served six months in the Oakland County Jail. The church then transferred him to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, Ohio. He was moved again 10 years later to the Diocese of Joliet in Illinois.