Fake Shaman

This is the prelude to my upcoming new true crime podcast Fake Shaman about a con-witch who moved to Maine with dollar signs in her eyes and psychedelic mushrooms in her Coach bag. Be sure to sign up at fakeshaman.com for the latest news and notification when this 10-part series premieres in March.

We hear a sad tale from "Sarah," the long-suffering wife of one of Richard Lavigne's victims. She tells us about her husband's abuse at the hands of the murderer-priest and the impact it had their family. And how it got worse after Lavigne died and the murderer-priest, once again, became the center of media attention. For more visit crashbarry.com

On the night of May 21, 2021, the unpunished murderer and former Catholic priest Richard Lavigne died at the age of 80 from COVID. The local district attorney claimed he was getting ready to arrest the former priest and charge him with Danny Croteau's murder, but since Lavigne was now dead, the DA now considers the case closed. On this episode of Unholy Fathers (originally aired June '21)Crash discusses the news of the death of this notorious child molester with the anonymous author of the Hell's Acres blog while they listen to never-before-heard audio of Lavigne from both Crash's exclusive interview with the murderer and soundbites released by the DA from a police interview.

In what was supposed to be the season finale of Unholy Fathers, we tie up some loose ends and visit the spot where Danny Croteau was murdered on April 14th, 1972. Since this episode first aired in Feb. 2020, there's been a couple major developments. Read more at crashbarry.com.

The latest episode of Unholy Fathers is much different than the previous 11, thanks to the calming presence of my high school classmate Cat, who is the youngest sister of Danny Croteau, the 13-year-old altar boy murdered by then-Rev. Richard Lavigne in April 1972, under a bridge on the banks of the Chicopee River in western Massachusetts.The interview for this episode was recorded during the summer of 2019. To say I’m thankful to Cat for her time, words and wisdom is an understatement. Cat is a strong and resilient woman, haunted by the murder of her brother, but she demonstrates the ability to deal with the depression and sadness with an amazing attitude we can all learn from. Cat and her family experienced unimaginable pain and suffering because of the violent acts of Lavigne, an evil man who pretended to be their family friend and confidant. And, as we hear from Cat, the murder destroyed her family. Even worse is the longterm impact the tragedy had on her siblings and parents. The lingering cloud of grief — felt by Cat and her loved ones — is inescapable and forevermore. read more at crashbarry.com

There are only a handful of good priests in the Unholy Fathers saga of the sins and crimes committed by the child-raping clergy of Springfield, Massachusetts. From Bishop Thomas Dupre to Richard Lavigne to the scores of other “credibly accused,” most of the alleged holy men I’ve reported on are actual devils and dirtbags. In Episode 10, though, we hear the story of Rev. James Scahill, or “Father Jim,” as he was known to his adoring parishioners at St. Michael’s Parish in East Longmeadow. He was the rare hero of Catholic priests, one who stood up for victims of priestly abuse. And he was the special sort of Catholic cleric, one who listened to his congregation. He became further empowered after hearing from his flock who were tired of their financial contributions paying for the lifestyles of bad priests. Especially to Lavigne, the child-murderer.Inspired by his parishioners, Scahill took to speaking truth to power —specifically to the serial rapist Bishop Dupre — and undertook a revolutionary act (for a Catholic priest) by publicly disobeying his bosses. Scahill understood how important money was to the Bishop, so the pastor made the power move — with support from his parish — and began to withhold the six percent of parish earnings, aka the “cathedralticum” payment, paid to the Bishop every month.Which meant Scahill became a major thorn in the dirty bishop’s side. While his litany of complaints mostly focussed on Lavigne-the-murderer still being on church payroll, Scahill was also obsessed with the rumor that we now know to be true: The Bishops of Springfield had intentionally destroyed secret records in order to protect their child molesting priests from criminal prosecution.In mid-September 2002, hundreds of priests from the Springfield diocese descended on a hotel in Cape Neddick, Maine for a “spiritual retreat.” Called by Bishop Dupre, the retreat was an attempt at damage control and to deal with the fallout from the diocese’s child molestation scandal.During a lull in the meeting, Father Scahill rose and addressed his brethren. “No matter what anyone says,” the renegade priest intoned, “there is no virtue to obedience that requires the surrender of virtue. There is no virtue to obedience that requires one to go myopically blind, like the soldiers of Hitler.”There was silence, momentarily, then Bishop Dupre bellowed. “Father Scahill, you are being disobedient. You have broken your oath of office as a pastor. And you have cost the diocese thousands and thousands of dollars with the timing of your stunt…”Father Scahill interrupted. “I’m listening to my parishioners. And they tell me to…”“SILENCE!” The Bishop glowered, pointing at Father Scahill. “Remember your vows,” he sputtered threateningly.The following year, the Bishop and his underlings tried to shift attention away from the scandal. Dupre made a very public and loud attempt to reassert the church’s moral authority on social issues. That’s why, in 2003, he became the face and voice of the anti-marriage equality movement in Massachusetts and vociferously argued that marriage was meant to be a union between man and woman. And very few folks dared to challenge his hateful rhetoric. After all, Dupre was the most powerful religious spiritual leader in western Mass.Meanwhile in California, one of Dupre’s victims stumbled across a wire service news story reporting on the Bishop’s sanctimonious moralizing. This now grown man — who had been repeatedly raped by Dupre from 1977 to 1982 — decided he’d kept his mouth shut long enough. He knew a reporter from the Springfield newspapers named Bill Zajac was working hard to bring the Bishop down. And with some assistance from Father Scahill, the tide turned and Dupre became the first American Catholic to be indicted on child rape charges.Unfortunately, like many powerful men accused of sex crimes against children, the Bishop was never prosecuted. And Dupre lived for another dozen years in relative comfort and luxury, dying in 2016 at 83.

Once again, the Catholic sexual abuse scandal mirrors current Epstein Files situation. Not only are there troves of secret documents, detailing crimes against children, but the man-in-charge was an evil, egomaniacal piece of garbage.The next two episodes tell the sordid tale of Bishop Thomas Dupre, who reigned supreme over the Catholic church in western Massachusetts from 1995 to 2004, when he suddenly disappeared under the cover of darkness, never to pay the price for his crimes, when he realized the jig was up.This so-called holy man fostered a system that protected scores of evil men, including Richard Lavigne, Charles Sullivan, Father X and others who committed countless crimes against children. Cover-up, lies and deception were the order of business for Dupre, a skilled canon lawyer, who also happened to be a serial child-rapist.

Before discussing Part 4 of Father X’s story of sins and crimes from my Unholy Fathers podcast, here’s a New Year’s prediction: In early January, Donald Trump will doze off during an “Alien Disclosure” press conference after introducing the secret alliance of Ant-People, Venusians, Grays, Plejaren (aka Pleiadeans) and neo-Anunnaki, who are revealed to be the actual rulers of Planet Earth.At any other time in our country’s history, my prognostication would sound like a bizarre conspiracy theory. Under the Trump regime, though, it’s just another day in the Oval Office. One more chapter in the on-going golden pedo cover-up, constructed to distract us from the actual big reveal: Trump and other oligarchs are guilty scum and will do anything they can to protect Epstein and the list of ruling-class child-abusing perverts.As part of the cover-up, the racist-rapist and his toadies embraced war crimes, murdering sailors while implementing local martial-law and grifting at a speed faster than light, all as part of their current distract-a-thon, which also includes weaponizing the Justice Department, rebranding the DoD as Department of War and using ICE agents to gestapo people of color.The acceptance of these tactics by GOPers like Paul LePage and Susan Collins shows how quickly Republican bootlickers are willing to kowtow to fascism as the orange-carcassed meat-puppet, stinking of fecal matter, rots into his corrupt bones. And they applaud while the president of the USA dons the Dying Despot of the Year medal awarded by FIFA, the consolation prize for the whining baby with a full diaper and a mushroom micro-penis. This remake of The Emperor’s New Clothes, called The Autocrat’s New Colostomy Bag is more proof that without some serious course correction — SOON — we’re screwed.As Peter Thiel waits for the death throes in order to install his suck-boi James Donald Bowman (aka James David Hamel, aka JP Mandel, aka JD Vance), gotta wonder what’s next for MAGA Daddy. Will he continue to defy the courts and ignore due process? Will he elevate Laura Loomer to the Cabinet? Will he order RFK to lower prices on Adrenochrome and Ivermectin in order to keep his base happy and alive? Or will he command Space Force to blast 3i Atlas from the solar system, triggering an intergalactic battle that results in advanced beings destroying our planet?Hard telling, since the short-finger vulgarian will go to seemingly any length to prevent the truth of his pederasty being exposed.Speaking of extremely-rich, elderly white male sex criminals… here in Maine, former gubernatorial candidate and current scumbag Eliot Cutler is facing allegations he violated probation by trying to hire a San Francisco sex worker during an upcoming vacation to the Left Coast to visit “elderly friends,” according to affidavit filed by his probation officer.The 79-year-old Cutler (born a mere 34 days after Trump, btw) is also alleged to have accessed sexually explicit content online and possessing unmonitored devices, according to court documents, all of which are probation violations. A court hearing is scheduled for Dec. 16. Meaning the asshole might be back in the clink before Christmas to serve out the remainder of his OG four-year prison sentence, which had been reduced, thanks to his May 2023 plea deal. That’s when he pled guilty to four counts of possession of sexually explicit material of a child under 12 years old and was ordered to serve 9 months in the Hancock County Jail.He’ll be back behind bars, that is, unless Cutler’s high-priced legal eagles find a way to convince the court to cut the old perv another break on Dec. 16. I wrote (exhaustively) re: this case for a Crash Report in Feb 2024, so you can read all about this dirtbag’s history and conviction here in The Pre-Obituary of Eliot Cutler.Short version: His troubles in started in 2022 when cops were tipped off to Cutler’s on-line activities after he shared a 447 GB folder of illicit images (including a video of an adult male raping a four year-old girl) with some other perverts. In March of that year, Cutler was arrested at his multi-million dollar “farmhouse” in the Hancock County town of Brooklyn. At the time, his electronics were seized and cops discovered over 80,000 images of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on his computers and drives. A year later, his legal team struck a sweet plea deal and the millionaire did a quick seven-and-a-half months in the Hancock County pokey, a fraction of his four-year sentence. And practically nuthin’, compared to other pervs busted with an equal amount of disgusting filth on their computers.Obviously, his big bank account was the reason why Cutler got such easy preferential treatment. After all, any non-monied schmuck facing the same charges wouldn’t have been able to get a judge to ignore the other 79,996 pieces of child sexual abuse material found on Cutler’s electronica. Below, in an excerpt from his “Pre-Obituary,” I explain how his cash makes it easier for a sexual predator like him to escape justice, even when the evidence is overwhelming.Welcome to Paradise CreekFor more evidence on how Cutler’s wealth influenced the outcome of his case, let’s take a close look at the millionaire’s stay at the “Paradise Creek Recovery Center” in Malta, Idaho. After all, his attorney Walt McKee argued that Cutler’s 28-days of therapy at the eight-bedroom house with views of grazing cattle and Idaho’s high mountain desert should prove to the court that Cutler wasn’t likely to re-offend. In his memo to the judge, McKee explained that Cutler’s time at the Paradise Creek Recovery Center, “was highly intensive and combined what would otherwise be a year and a half of intensive individual and group therapy into 28 days.”Before getting into the critique of the efficacy of this type of therapy, let’s get some fiscal facts out of the way. I haven’t been able to find pricing info for any so-called “28-day program” at Paradise Creek, but here are some fees for the recovery center’s “Sex Addiction and Pornography Addiction Treatment Programs.” A five-week stay at Paradise Creek, for instance, costs $26,875 for “a private room, all treatment modalities, meals and snacks included.” The six-week package (snacks also included) goes for $32,250. Cash only. No insurance accepted. Also, for an unknown reason, program attendees are required to bring an additional $5,ooo in cash, pre-paid credit card or certified check when they arrive at Paradise Creek.As you can see in the screenshot below from the Paradise Creek website, the center’s policy requires “anyone who is or may be involved in a legal process to enroll in the six-week treatment program.” Yet, according to Cutler’s lawyer, the former gubernatorial hopeful only spent 28 days at the Idaho joint, even though he was out-on-bail for possessing CSAM and the center’s own rules required a longer stay. For an unknown reason, Cutler’s therapeutic stay was two weeks shorter than what the recovery center actually requires for pervs of his ilk. His lawyer neglected to mention that apparent privilege, instead telling the court Cutler successfully completed the program.Below is the sample weekly schedule for Paradise Creek program attendees.According to promo materials, in addition to group and one-on-one therapy, there is weekly art therapy, music therapy, as well as daily yoga and fitness programs. A frequent backyard marshmallow roast (weather permitting) is part of the package and includes the “opportunity to talk about principles of recovery in a less formal environment and, at the same time, enjoy some food that can easily be warmed or cooked over a campfire.”Fridays, when the weather is nice, the program heads a half hour to the west to the “City of Rocks” state park for hiking, picnic lunch, and, if so desired, a therapy session done in a private spot in the great outdoors.Obviously, the treatment at Paradise Creek is geared to monied folks like Cutler. While the people running the place seem to be compassionate (at least on video), how effective is the actual program? After all, in Cutler’s case, at the time of his stay in Idaho, he was a 76-year-old male with admitted “decades” of addiction to CSAM and a current hoard of over 80,000 images, in police custody, on his electronics. Pretty sure four weeks of talk therapy in the high desert ain’t gonna make a dent his brain-sickness. Unless, perhaps, the regimen included daily ayahuasca sessions coupled with round-the-clock behavior modification programming, reinforced with electro-shock therapy.Alas, that’s not what’s offered at Paradise Creek, a sober facility that eschews punitive solutions. Instead, the place focuses on treating “the trauma that resulted in the problematic sexual behavior.” In addition to the variety of therapy modalities, there are frequent recitations of affirmations (the 12 Pillars, written by the center’s owner-psychiatrist) plus 12-step meetings and many hour-long blocks set aside for personal reflection.Therapists at Paradise Creek also utilize guided meditations, some of which are akin to mild hypnotherapy. Plus the center’s director bragged their “arsenal of tools” includes EDMR, aka “Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing,” a relatively new therapy, allegedly treating trauma through moving (or rolling) eyes in a certain manner while the subject processes traumatic memories. Whether EDMR works is up for debate, especially for an entitled old man like Cutler whose neural pathways are carved thick and deep in his big, meaty brain.The elephant in the room, of course, is how to gauge whether this sort of treatment has any impact on someone like Cutler. Remember, he’s been “addicted” for decades to criminal content that victimizes and scars children for life. Unfortunately, the assessment part of the therapeutic practice isn’t discussed in the Paradise Creek sales material. Instead, without empirical proof, the staff repeats and repeats the mantra claiming “28-days equal a year or a year and a half of therapy” which was then parroted by Cutler’s lawyer in court filings.A quick aside: the 28 day program is a mainstay of most U.S. residential treatment programs for addictions to booze, drugs, sex and other bad stuff. That 28-day length-of-stay is rooted in what insurance companies traditionally had agreed to pay for. (Even though Paradise Creek doesn’t accept insurance.) There is no scientific proof that this arbitrary length of time, designed for billing purposes, is responsible for any lasting impact.There are anecdotal stories of success from addiction treatment residential programs, but that usually involves focused aftercare and on-going support. However, especially in connection to eating disorders and “problematic sexual behavior” addictions, the success rate is relatively low. And current scientific studies of the 28-day residential programs’ impact on sex addictions suffer from a lack of data to accurately assess progress.Let’s talk specifically about the assessment technique used by the team at Paradise Creek and Cutler’s therapists in Maine to support claims, in court, he’s not gonna re-offend. It’s called CPORT (C.P. Offender Risk Tool) which is “designed to predict any sexual recidivism for men convicted of [[CSAM]] offenses.”Obviously using the C.P. term, like I mentioned earlier, shows from the get-go the assessment is lame and outdated, even though the tool has only been in use since 2015. But overlooking the ill-chosen nomenclature, the CPORT “test” also seems woefully inadequate in determining whether someone like Cutler will re-offend.The assessment is based upon the following seven factors:* Age at time of investigation* Whether the offender had any prior criminal history* Any contact sexual offending* Any failure on conditional release* Any indicators of sexual interest in [[CSAM]] prepubescent or pubescent children* More boy than girl content in [[CSAM]]* More boy than girl content in other child depictions.In August of 2023, however, a study called “Risk Assessment of C.P.-exclusive offenders” dissing CPORT was published in the American Psychological Association’s journal “Law and Human Behavior.” The study’s authors assert that all previous studies supporting the CPORT method “suffer from at least three significant limitations: extremely small samples, inordinate amounts of missing data, and potentially outdated samples.” The authors also go into detail on how the CPORT “has been misapplied in forensic settings and courtroom testimony.” In conclusion, according to the study’s authors, “it inappropriate to use the CPORT on [[CSAM]]-exclusive offenders in the United States at this time.”Just to be clear, the assessment tool that Cutler’s defense team and therapist utilized in court to claim that he wouldn’t re-offend is considered “inappropriate” to use on sex offenders, especially in connection to courtroom testimony. Yikes.Too late, I guess. Cutler has done his time and is now pursuing a life of leisure befitting a retired man of his wealth.All this begs the question: is there any legitimate way to determine if treatment for offenders with “problematic sexual behavior” actually works?[[end of excerpt from The Pre-Obituary of Eliot Cutler]]However, if justice prevails next week, Cutler will end up being sent to the Big House, not some county lockup Down East. Which, might correct the lede of the Pre-Obit:“Eliot Cutler should’ve died in prison.”I don’t wanna be accused of Monday-morning quarterbacking, but it’s obvious that the so-called “treatment” Cutler received at Paradise Creek didn’t work. And his time behind bars, evidently, didn’t do anything to quell the pervy-nature of the wretch. Perhaps, rotting-in-hell will stop him.Speaking of rotting-in-hell, today’s episode of the Unholy Fathers podcast is extremely relevant to the topic of rehabbing sexual predators like Cutler and Father X.For those NOT familiar with Father X, this episode is eighth of the OG season of my investigative podcast Devils and Dirtbags, detailing the crimes and cover-up of Catholic priests in the Diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts. Father X, a serial rapist of altar boys, happened to be the pastor of my childhood parish, St. Matthew’s in Indian Orchard, Massachusetts, back in the mid-1980s.As you can hear in Part 3 of X’s story (who died in August), I secretly recorded a conversation with the ex-priest, after surprising him in a mid-sized New England city with a pre-Christmas door-knocking in 2018. In the latest episode, we learn the details of Father X’s dark family secrets. (CW: contains references to abhorrent child sexual abuse by HIS father.) But we also learn how the Catholic hierarchy dealt with “fixing” perverted clerics, including the bizarre “treatments” used by therapists at church-approved country-club loony-bins set up to cater to bad priests.This episode also includes a brief explainer about the “penile plethysmograph,” aka penile lie detector, used to determine whether individual sex offenders should be deemed a danger to society.All I can say: yikes.If you appreciate how the Crash Report goes places other media won’t, please become a paid subscriber. For $7 monthly or $75 annually, you’ll be supporting independent investigative journalism, PLUS you’ll get ad-free and early access to the second season of Devils & Dirtbags called Fake Shaman, which premieres in mid-January 2026. Get full access to The Crash Report at www.crashbarry.com/subscribe