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The judge did not convict Faucher of molesting the man who was paid $50,000, nor of abusing one other complainant. He did not discount their stories, but said he had reasonable doubt as to their allegations.

All the complainants, whose names are shielded by a publication ban, recounted similar stories of Faucher touching them while he sat them on his knee when he was alone with them in his office. The boys attended the former Notre-Dame-des-Anges parish near Tunney’s Pasture, where Faucher was a priest. The charges date back to 1969 to 1974, when the five boys were between the ages of seven and 11.

A week after his 80th birthday last month, the former priest made a courtroom apology to his victims while in the same breath accusing the media of profiting from sex abuse scandals in the Catholic Church.

While the Faucher verdict made headlines, the story behind the $50,000 cheque, how the diocese responded to the allegations in 1997, and why the first complainant came forward to police 15 years later, have gone untold until now.

One of the exhibits was a letter from Faucher dated Sept. 20, 1999, in which he wrote that he was sorry for the psychological difficulties the complainant suffered following allegations of “inappropriate gestures” around the same time he was at the parish. The letter did not admit to or deny the allegations.

During the trial, court heard the complainant went to rehab at 19 in the throes of his addiction to cocaine and alcohol, and struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder. It was after returning to rehab a second time more and getting sober that memories of the abuse came back to haunt him, he alleged.