Father Michael LaMountain served as a Roman Catholic priest in the Diocese of Providence for two decades, and the Rhode Island Attorney General’s 2026 report described him as one of the most infamous child molesters in Rhode Island history. His case is not just a story about one man’s crimes. It is a documented example of institutional failure, deliberate concealment, and the lasting harm that follows when a church prioritizes its own reputation over the safety of children. If you were abused by Father LaMountain, or if you believe the Diocese of Providence failed to protect you, you have rights, and those rights matter now more than ever.

Table of Contents

• Who Was Father Michael LaMountain and Where Did He Serve?
• The Pattern of Abuse Father LaMountain Committed Against Children
• What the Diocese of Providence Knew About LaMountain and When It Knew It
• Rhode Island’s New Child Sexual Abuse Law Opens a Window for Survivors
• How the Diocese Misled the Public About What It Knew
• Your Legal Rights as a Survivor of Father LaMountain’s Abuse
• FAQs About Father LaMountain and Rhode Island Clergy Abuse Claims

Who Was Father Michael LaMountain and Where Did He Serve?

Father Michael V. LaMountain was born on March 5, 1949, and was ordained as a priest for the Diocese of Providence on May 31, 1975. According to the Rhode Island Attorney General’s credibly accused clergy list, his assignment history placed him in direct contact with children across multiple Rhode Island communities for nearly two decades.

His known parish assignments included St. Catherine Church in Warwick from 1975 to 1976, St. Kevin Church in Warwick from 1976 to 1983, St. Joseph Church in Woonsocket from 1983 to 1987, and St. John the Baptist Church in West Warwick from 1987 until his suspension in 1995. Each of these assignments gave him continued access to children, even as warning signs accumulated within the Diocese’s own records.

Before his Rhode Island assignments, LaMountain trained as a seminarian in Baltimore, Maryland, during the early 1970s. Allegations of abuse during that period would later surface in separate investigations, including the Maryland Attorney General’s 2023 report on child sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. His reach extended across state lines, but Rhode Island was where the bulk of his documented abuse occurred.

According to the Rhode Island Attorney General’s 2026 Report on Child Sexual Abuse in the Diocese of Providence, LaMountain was accused of sexually abusing a total of at least 12 boys and young men during his ministry, “although the actual number is unknown.” He was laicized, meaning formally removed from the priesthood, on February 11, 2005, and died on August 25, 2010. His name appears on the Diocese of Providence’s official list of credibly accused clergy.

The Pattern of Abuse Father LaMountain Committed Against Children

The abuse Father LaMountain committed was not a single incident. It was a sustained pattern of predatory behavior targeting adolescent boys over a span of roughly two decades, from the 1970s through the early 1990s.

The alleged abuse occurred primarily at his Spring Lake cottage in Burrillville and the rectory of St. John the Baptist Church in West Warwick, and included fondling, oral sex, and rape. These were not random encounters. LaMountain used the trust that comes with a priest’s role to isolate, groom, and abuse children who looked to him for spiritual guidance.

He was indicted in October 1997 on criminal charges of the sexual abuse of five boys, as young as age 10, from the 1970s through the 1990s. The grand jury indictment reflected only a portion of the abuse that investigators and survivors had described. Many victims never came forward at all, and some who did came forward only years after the fact.

In January 1999, he pleaded guilty to nine felony counts involving the sexual assault of five boys between the 1970s and 1990s. The crimes he admitted to in open court represented a fraction of the total abuse the Attorney General’s investigation would later document. One survivor told a state investigator in 2024 that LaMountain’s abuse led him to attempt suicide multiple times, a reminder of the lifelong damage this kind of betrayal causes.

If any of this sounds familiar to you, please know that what happened was not your fault. Abuse by a trusted religious authority carries a particular weight, and the shame you may feel belongs entirely to the person who chose to harm you, and to the institution that chose to look away.

What the Diocese of Providence Knew About LaMountain and When It Knew It

The Rhode Island Attorney General’s 2026 report makes one thing unmistakably clear: the Diocese of Providence knew about concerns surrounding Father LaMountain years before it took any meaningful action to stop him.

Warning signs appeared as early as 1976, when a clergy supervisor evaluating LaMountain’s diaconate at St. Catherine Church in Warwick noted in writing that “one cause of concern is [LaMountain’s] relationship with youths,” adding that he tended to spend too much time with young people and was “too familiar.” The Diocese did not act on those warnings.

Despite receiving the first documented complaint in February 1989, the Diocese repeatedly failed to restrict LaMountain’s ministry or report allegations to law enforcement, allowing the abuse to continue for years. In response to that 1989 complaint, the Diocese sent LaMountain for a single evaluation at the Sexual Disorders Clinic at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Recommendations from that evaluation included avoiding unsupervised contact with adolescent males. There is no evidence the Diocese enforced those recommendations.

In 1993, Baltimore law enforcement began investigating an allegation that LaMountain had abused a 14-year-old boy while training at a Maryland seminary. The Diocese’s Office of Education and Compliance engaged with those authorities, and the investigation revealed that some of the alleged abuse also occurred in Rhode Island. Yet the Diocese did not notify Rhode Island law enforcement at that time.

When the Rhode Island State Police opened their own investigation in March 1995, the Diocese moved quickly to help LaMountain secure a criminal defense attorney. Even as allegations mounted and an active criminal investigation began, the Diocese allowed him to remain in ministry, with internal records reflecting a greater concern for protecting his reputation than safeguarding children. The Diocese claimed it had no notice of allegations before 1995, a statement directly contradicted by its own internal records.

The Attorney General’s report also documents that a Diocese compliance official was told in 1995 by one survivor that LaMountain had violently raped him and had also abused a family member. That official described the complaint as the “first known case involving physical violence involving a member of the clergy.” He did not notify the State Police, apparently because the survivor did not wish to speak with police at that time. The official also appears to have withheld this information when the State Police later sought documents about prior allegations against LaMountain.

Rhode Island’s New Child Sexual Abuse Law Opens a Window for Survivors

For many survivors of Father LaMountain’s abuse, the biggest obstacle to civil justice has been time. Statutes of limitations, which are legal deadlines for filing lawsuits, have historically cut off survivors before they were emotionally or practically ready to come forward. Rhode Island’s new law directly addresses that barrier.

Governor Dan McKee signed legislation amending the statute of limitations for child victim claims of sexual abuse and creating a two-year window for victims to bring otherwise time-barred claims against institutions and supervisors accused of enabling or covering up sexual abuse. The governor signed the legislation, known as H-7200a/S-2616a, on June 11, 2026, and it took effect on July 1, 2026.

The new law establishes a two-year civil “revival window” that opens from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2028. During this 24-month period, survivors can file civil suits even if the statute of limitations on their claims had previously expired. This is critically important for survivors whose claims against the Diocese of Providence had been blocked by prior legal deadlines.

The law also changes the rules going forward. Future claims must be filed by whichever date is later: either 35 years from the date of the abusive act, or seven years from when the survivor first discovers or reasonably connects their adult injuries to the childhood abuse. The statute of limitations begins running when the survivor turns 18.

In 2023, the Rhode Island Supreme Court ruled that the 2019 law only applied to suits against individual perpetrators, not the institutions or supervisors who enabled them. The new law closes that gap. The new law specifically targets institutions and organizations such as churches, schools, youth programs, healthcare facilities and sports leagues, as well as supervisors. That means survivors can now pursue claims directly against the Diocese of Providence for its role in enabling and concealing LaMountain’s abuse.

The revival window is open now, but it will close on June 30, 2028. If you believe you have a claim, speaking with a sexual abuse lawyer as soon as possible gives you the best chance to preserve your rights.

How the Diocese Misled the Public About What It Knew

The Rhode Island Attorney General’s 2026 report did not just document LaMountain’s crimes. It documented the Diocese of Providence’s active campaign to mislead the public about what it knew and when it knew it.

When LaMountain was arrested in 1995, the Diocese issued public statements claiming that Bishop Gelineau first learned of complaints against LaMountain in March of that year, when a report came directly to him. The Attorney General’s investigation found that this was false. Diocesan records confirmed that Bishop Gelineau was aware of a 1989 allegation that prompted a referral to Johns Hopkins Hospital, as well as a separate 1993 complaint that triggered a criminal investigation by Maryland law enforcement. In neither case did Bishop Gelineau place LaMountain on leave or inform law enforcement.

In May 2002, a Providence Journal reporter asked the Diocese directly whether it had ever received a complaint about LaMountain and whether any investigations were done. The Diocese replied that the first complaint came directly to Bishop Gelineau on March 3, 1995, and that there were “no previous complaints that we know of.” The Attorney General’s report describes this statement as demonstrably false.

The reporter also asked whether LaMountain had ever been sent for treatment. The Diocese said there was “no indication” of counseling prior to his 1999 conviction, despite the fact that Bishop Gelineau had personally referred LaMountain for evaluation at the Johns Hopkins Sexual Disorders Clinic in 1989. These were not accidental omissions. They were deliberate misrepresentations made to a journalist and, by extension, to the public.

This pattern of institutional deception is exactly why Rhode Island’s new law extends civil liability to institutions and supervisors. The Diocese’s conduct, as documented by the Attorney General, reflects the kind of enabling and cover-up that the legislation was designed to address. Survivors who were harmed by that cover-up now have a legal path to hold the institution accountable, not just the individual priest.

Your Legal Rights as a Survivor of Father LaMountain’s Abuse

If Father LaMountain abused you, you have legal rights. The fact that he died in 2010 does not eliminate those rights. Civil claims in Rhode Island can be brought against institutions, like the Diocese of Providence, that are accused of enabling or covering up abuse. The Diocese is still active, and it can still be held accountable in civil court.

Rhode Island law now gives you a direct path to pursue that accountability. By temporarily suspending the statute of limitations for these claims, the legislation offers those who suffered trauma decades ago a chance to seek justice against a perpetrator and any other party that may have had some level of involvement in the claims, regardless of how much time has passed.

A civil lawsuit serves multiple purposes. It can provide financial compensation for the harm you suffered, including the psychological, emotional, and physical consequences of abuse. It can also force institutions to produce records and answer publicly for their decisions, which creates accountability that benefits the broader community and other survivors.

You do not have to have reported the abuse previously to file a civil claim. You do not have to have cooperated with law enforcement. You do not have to have been part of the 2002 settlement to bring a new claim under the revival window. Each survivor’s situation is different, and a qualified sexual assault lawyer can help you understand what options are available to you based on the specific facts of your experience.

At Sommers Schwartz, we represent survivors of clergy sexual abuse across Rhode Island and beyond. We understand the courage it takes to come forward. We work with survivors in a way that puts your wellbeing first, and we handle the legal process so you can focus on healing. If you were abused by Father LaMountain or harmed by the Diocese of Providence’s failure to protect you, we want to hear from you. Contact us today for a confidential, no-obligation conversation about your rights.

FAQs About Father LaMountain and Rhode Island Clergy Abuse Claims

Can I still file a lawsuit related to Father LaMountain’s abuse if I never came forward before?

Yes. Rhode Island’s new law, H-7200a/S-2616a, signed by Governor Dan McKee on June 11, 2026, and effective July 1, 2026, creates a two-year revival window that allows survivors to bring civil claims that were previously blocked by the statute of limitations. You do not need to have reported the abuse previously, and you do not need to have been part of any prior settlement. The window is open through June 30, 2028.

Father LaMountain died in 2010. Does that mean I cannot sue anyone?

No. The death of the abuser does not end your right to pursue a civil claim. Rhode Island’s new law specifically targets institutions and supervisors accused of enabling or covering up abuse. The Diocese of Providence, which the Attorney General’s 2026 report found had knowledge of complaints against LaMountain dating back to at least 1989, can be named as a defendant in a civil lawsuit. An attorney can help you assess who the appropriate parties are in your specific case.

What does the two-year revival window actually mean for my case?

The revival window temporarily lifts the statute of limitations for claims that had already expired under prior law. This means that even if you missed previous legal deadlines, you may now be able to file a civil lawsuit during the window, which runs from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2028. The window applies to claims against institutions and supervisors accused of enabling or covering up child sexual abuse, in addition to claims against individual perpetrators. Once the window closes, previously time-barred claims may be permanently barred.

How do I know if what happened to me qualifies as abuse under Rhode Island law?

Rhode Island law broadly defines sexual abuse of a child to include any sexual contact or conduct involving a minor, whether or not physical force was used. Grooming behaviors, sexual touching, oral sex, and rape all fall within the scope of conduct that can support a civil claim. If Father LaMountain engaged in any sexual conduct with you as a child, or if another priest or church official in the Diocese of Providence did, you likely have grounds to speak with an attorney about your options. You do not need to have been physically injured to have a valid claim.

Will I have to testify publicly or have my name in the news if I file a lawsuit?

Not necessarily. Rhode Island courts allow survivors to file civil lawsuits using pseudonyms, such as “Jane Doe” or “John Doe,” to protect their identity. Many survivors choose this option to preserve their privacy while still pursuing accountability. An attorney can explain how anonymous filing works and whether it is appropriate for your situation. At Sommers Schwartz, we handle every case with strict confidentiality and deep respect for each survivor’s need for privacy and safety.

More Resources About Clergy Abuse

• Diocese of Providence Clergy Abuse
• Father John Abruzzese
• Father Raymond Allard
• Father Argencourt
• Father Azzarone
• Father Barnes
• Father Battel
• Father Belhumeur
• Father Bordignon
• Father Dennis Brodeur
• Father Campbell
• Father Carpentier
• Father Cavanaugh
• Father Charland
• Father Corbesero
• Father Crafton
• Father D’Angelo
• Father DeAngelis
• Father Louis Demers
• Father Albert Desrosiers
• Father Paul Desrosiers
• Father Diogo
• Father Dolan
• Father Doran
• Father Dunn
• Father Dziob
• Father Edes
• Father Feeney
• Father Oscar Ferland
• Father Ferry
• Father Fitzgerald
• Father Flanagan
• Father Gagnon
• Father Gillooly
• Father Gorton
• Father Guertin
• Father Holden
• Father James Jackson
• Father Edward Kelley
• Father Lacasse
• Father Leboeuf
• Father Paul Henry Leech
• Father Lepire
• Father Lonardo
• Father Philip Magaldi
• Father Manu
• Father Normand Marcantonio
• Father Joseph McCra
• Father McIntyre
• Father Meehan
• Father Meglio
• Father Menard
• Father Micarelli
• Father O’Connell
• Father J.F. O’Neil
• Father W. O’Neill
• Father Powers
• Father Rafferty
• Father Raiche
• Father Reynolds
• Father Rocha
• Father Sadowski
• Father Santagata
• Father Francis Santilli
• Father John Scagnelli
• Father Smyth
• Father Tanguay
• Father Tedeschi
• Father Tormey
• Father Tousignant
• Father Turillo
• Father Ventre