Light sentence for child rapist

By Laurel J. Sweet
Friday, December 22, 2006 - Updated: 11:12 AM EST

A former religious counselor who blackmailed boys into sex by convincing them he alone had the power to get them adopted will spend just five years behind bars - and only after he enjoys the holidays.

The sentence imposed yesterday on Edward “Brother Tony” Holmes, 65, by Suffolk Superior Court Judge Carol Ball as the result of his guilty plea was half what prosecutors hoped he’d get, but agreed to by his two rape victims because it spared their identities from becoming public at trial.

Ball, who could not be reached to explain her decision, stayed the frail old man’s incarceration until Jan. 8.

Holmes, a former religious brother who worked at the Nazareth Child Care Center in Jamaica Plain 30 years ago, has been living in Washington, D.C.

“Frankly,” Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley said, “we may never know how many children Holmes abused.”

Because Holmes left the state in 1990, thus freezing the then-15-year statute of limitations on child sex assault cases, prosecutors were able to indict him last year. He has been free on $15,000 cash bail.

The two victims who finally came forward in 2003 were 9- and 10-year-old trusting wards of the state when Holmes began repeatedly raping them between 1976 and 1983.
Holmes told one victim he’d never let him out to find happiness unless he played along. He first sexually abused the other victim under the guise of comforting him when the child was removed from his family.

Prosecutors are also in possession of dozens of photographs Holmes took of himself having sex with an unknown teenage boy.

Neither known victim appeared in court yesterday. But one told Holmes in a written statement, “I hope you realize the damage you did. I wish I could forgive you, but right now I can’t. I hope you find peace with God.”

Conley said the victims’ well-being was his foremost reason for not fighting Ball.
“Today’s proceedings gave them the satisfaction of seeing (Holmes) admit his crimes and accept his punishment,” Conley said, “without having to provide the wrenching testimony that a trial would have demanded.

“Given their privacy concerns and the challenges inherent in trying a case that reached back 30 years, we accept the judge’s decision.”

lsweet@bostonherald.com.