A former monk in training at St. Benedict’s Monastery in Old Snowmass made his first court appearance Monday to face a charge connected to an alleged sexual assault on a boy in the early 2000s.
Senior Judge Paul McLimans on Monday set July 11 as the arraignment date for Wilfred Laurent Carignan, 72, who faces one class-three felony count of sexual assault on a child — position of trust — pattern of abuse. Public defender James Conway noted that the alleged offense is a “very serious case” against Carignan, who worked at the monastery from 1996 to 2001 as a beekeeper and was a monk in training.
The alleged sexual acts did not occur at the monastery; the alleged victim claims they happened at a nearby home in which Carignan resided at the time, as well as during a trip to Crestone.
Carignan currently is serving separate prison sentences of six and eight years to life in Fremont Correction Facility in Canon City, on two felony convictions of sexual assault of a child out of Delta County.
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