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A parish priest at St. John the Evangelist Church in North Chelmsford is on leave after he was arrested Friday during a prostitution sting by police in Nashua.
The Rev. William Ventura, 31, faces a misdemeanor prostitution charge after Nashua police said he responded to a fake posting on Craigslist Friday and was planning to pay a woman for sex.
The Catholic Archdiocese of Boston immediately granted Ventura’s request for a leave of absence, during which he will not be allowed to conduct ministry.
“The archdiocese is cooperating fully with law enforcement’s investigation,’’ Terrence Donilon, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said in a statement.
Ventura was released on bail and will be arraigned April 22 in Nashua District Court. Police declined to release details of his arrest in the sting at a local motel.
Calls to the parish were not returned yesterday.
Six other New Hampshire men and one man from New Jersey were arrested. They were all released on bail and will be arraigned April 23.
Ventura was ordained in May 2006. He has also served at St. Joseph’s parish in Needham as a deacon, according to the Boston Pilot, the archdiocesan newspaper, which interviewed and profiled him in 2008.
Ventura was born in Holbrook, N.H., and raised in Derry. He is a graduate of Hesser College in Manchester.
Each defendant faces fines and up to a year in prison.
The Rev. William Ventura, 31, faces a misdemeanor prostitution charge after Nashua police said he responded to a fake posting on Craigslist Friday and was planning to pay a woman for sex.
The Catholic Archdiocese of Boston immediately granted Ventura’s request for a leave of absence, during which he will not be allowed to conduct ministry.
“The archdiocese is cooperating fully with law enforcement’s investigation,’’ Terrence Donilon, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said in a statement.
Ventura was released on bail and will be arraigned April 22 in Nashua District Court. Police declined to release details of his arrest in the sting at a local motel.
Calls to the parish were not returned yesterday.
Six other New Hampshire men and one man from New Jersey were arrested. They were all released on bail and will be arraigned April 23.
Ventura was ordained in May 2006. He has also served at St. Joseph’s parish in Needham as a deacon, according to the Boston Pilot, the archdiocesan newspaper, which interviewed and profiled him in 2008.
Ventura was born in Holbrook, N.H., and raised in Derry. He is a graduate of Hesser College in Manchester.
Each defendant faces fines and up to a year in prison.
