The Eagle-Tribune
Published: April 14, 2010 08:29 am
By Bill Kirk
bkirk@eagletribune.com
NASHUA, N.H. — A Catholic priest who was raised in Derry and graduated from Pinkerton Academy was arrested last week in a Craigslist sting conducted by Nashua police.
William Ventura, 31, of 115 Middlesex St., Chelmsford, who is a priest at St. John the Evangelist Parish, North Chelmsford, was arrested Friday, April 9, along with seven other men at a local hotel after they agreed to pay for sex in response to a Craigslist ad placed by investigators, police said.
The men are being charged with one count each of prostitution, class A misdemeanor, which is punishable by up to a year imprisonment in the County House of Corrections, exclusive of fines, according to a press release from the Nashua Police Department.
Ventura, who was born in Hookset, was actually raised in Derry, N.H., according to biographical information contained in the archives of The Pilot, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston.
He attended Hesser College, Manchester, N.H., and graduated from St. John’s Seminary College. He was ordained in 2006.
Also arrested were: Michael Pope, 34, 4 Danforth Road, Apt. 1, Nashua; Robert Ricker, 62, of 90 Kenberma St., Manchester; Mark Tharp, 58, of 41 Manchester St., Manchester; James Dippner, 36, of 103 Hedgerow Drive, Cherry Hill, N.J.; John Costa, 35, of 281 Merrimack St., Manchester; Jeffrey Isaac, 18, 1 McKean St., Nashua; and, Thomas Clark, 36, of 36 Harbor Ave., Apt. B, Nashua.
Ventura is due to be arraigned April 22, while the rest of the men are to be arraigned April 23.
For more on this story, see tomorrow’s editions of The Eagle-Tribune.