Richard R. Lavigne

Richard Roger Lavigne (February 18, 1941 – May 21, 2021) was a laicized priest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield in Massachusetts and a convicted sex offender. Lavigne was at the center of the priest abuse scandal in the Diocese of Springfield with at least 63 claims of sexual abuse of minors placed against him.

Biography Richard Lavigne was born in 1941 and raised in Chicopee, Massachusetts. He was the only child of Annette (née Cote; 1915–2005) and Ovila Lavigne (1908–2000). He claimed that his father owned a shoe store in the city.

In 1966, Lavigne was ordained a priest. He initially requested to teach at Cathedral High School in Springfield, which was denied.

Priesthood

Child sexual abuse Lavigne was removed from ministry by Bishop John Marshall in 1991. He pleaded guilty to two counts of child sexual abuse on June 26, 1992, Lavigne was laicized by the Holy See on November 20, 2003. just hours after the Hampden County district attorney Anthony D. Gulluni's office had begun preparing an arrest warrant in the 1972 case, based on deathbed admissions by Lavigne of specific details. Gullini declared Lavigne responsible for the death of Danny Croteau.

Two Springfield Roman Catholic bishops, Christopher Joseph Weldon (1905–1982) and Thomas Dupré, were named as child molesters who each covered up the abuse and murder of Danny Croteau by Lavigne, who was in their charge.