Father Donald Bolton
Ordained: 1952
Died: 2006
Assignment History:
- 1953-1954: Mount St. Alphonsus (Esopus, NY)
- 1955-1959: Bela Vista (Mato Grosso, Brazil)
- 1960-1962: Campo Grande (Mato Grosso, Brazil)
- 1963-1967: Bela Vista (Mato Grosso, Brazil)
- 1968-1969: Monte Alegre (Parana, Brazil)
- 1970-1971: Rocio (Parana, Brazi)
- 1971-1974: Notre Dame Retreat House (Canandaigua, NY)
- 1975-1984: Gregory Thaumaturgus (North East, PA)
- 1985-1987: Our Lady of Perpetual Help (Brooklyn, NY)
- 1988-1990: Holy Family Retreat House (Hampton, VA)
- 1990-2003: Alphonsus Villa-Redemptorist Fathers and Brother (New Smyrna Beach, FL)
- 2004-2006: St John Neumann Residence (Saratoga Springs, NY)
Summary of Sexual Abuse Allegations Against Father Donald Bolton:
Fr. Donald Bolton was ordained a Redemptorist priest in 1952. According to media reports, he was accused of sexually abusing a seven-year-old girl between 1974 and 1984, while serving at St. Gregory Thaumaturgus in North East, Pennsylvania. The girl's parents reported the abuse to the Redemptorist Fathers, who reportedly promised the parents that Bolton would not be permitted to work with children.
In 1986, the parents learned that he was reassigned to teach at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Brooklyn, New York, so they reported Bolton to the police. In November 1986, he was charged with one count each of indecent assault and corruption of minors. He pleaded guilty and in February 1987, he was sentenced to three years' probation. He spent those three years at a Hampton VA retreat house. In 1990, Bolton moved to a New Smyrna Beach, FL Redemptorist residence, and then to another in Saratoga Springs, NY, in 2003.
Bolton was named publicly in the 2018 Pennsylvania Report I of the 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury in the subsections "Diocese of Erie" and "Offenders Identified by the Grand Jury". His status as a priest, and whether he had access to children from 1987 until his death are unknown.
Bolton died in 2006.
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