The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland has reinstated Father Robert Vaillancourt after a yearlong investigation into sexual assault allegations from the 1980’s.

The initial allegation came in July of 2021, and Fr. Vaillancourt was placed on immediate administrative leave.  The announcement of the leave and investigation was widely published by the Diocese, and soon thereafter a second allegation came to light.  State law enforcement as well as civil authorities were notified and conducted their own investigations.

Internal investigations by the diocese determined that the allegations were unfounded due to contradictory evidence from several of the thirty interviews that took place.  The Diocese says in a press release that “extensive record and document checks” were also conducted.

The Diocese submitted the findings of their internal investigation to an internal review board, and the board unanimously agreed with the findings of the investigation.  “The case was then submitted to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican, which examined the investigative findings and conclusions and permitted the case to proceed to this conclusion.”

The Diocese encourages anyone who may have information about any case of sexual abuse of a minor by a Church representative to contact civil authorities and Michael Magalski, director of the Office of Professional responsibility for the Diocese of Portland at michael.magalski@portlanddiocese.org.

Father Vaillancourt has not yet received a new assignment