Former Gilman School teacher charged with 1970s child sex abuse

An 81-year-old Connecticut pastor has been indicted in Maryland on charges that he sexually abused a child at the Gilman School in the 1970s.

Court records show Laurence LaPointe was indicted late last month on charges of third-degree sex offense for allegedly abusing a child under age 14 on the North Baltimore school’s campus sometime between July 1976 and May 1977. A second count charges abuse of a minor.

Gilman leaders addressed the charges in an email to the school community.

“Time does not diminish the pain of abuse, and our hearts go out to the survivors harmed by LaPointe’s conduct,” read an email signed by Head of School Henry P.A. Smyth and Andrew M. Brooks, president of the board of trustees. “We will do all we can to support law enforcement in their efforts, but also to support survivors on their paths toward healing.”

The indictment lists the school’s address as the location for the crimes, but does not give details about where the alleged abuse occurred on the property, or the circumstances. Gilman officials said in the Monday email that LaPointe was a chaplain at the school from 1966 until 1970, and a faculty member from 1973 to 1977.

The charges listed in the Feb. 24 indictment were not announced at the time by the Maryland Office of the Attorney General, which is handling the prosecution. They instead surfaced Sunday after the Diocese of Norwich in Connecticut disclosed that LaPointe had been placed on leave there, where he is a pastor at Corpus Christi Parish.

In 2023, the Maryland attorney general’s office released a sweeping investigation into the history of abuse within the Archdiocese of Baltimore in 2023, but it was unclear whether the LaPointe investigation grew out of that probe.

The attorney general’s office declined to comment Monday evening.

Catholic Church officials said they had learned LaPointe was under investigation by the Connecticut Department of Children and Families over a claim of abuse of a minor in Connecticut in the early 1970s. He was put on leave on March 6, and officials learned of the Maryland indictment on March 11.

The Diocese of Norwich said LaPointe denied the allegations.

“The seriousness of the allegations necessitated his removal from ministry as a precautionary measure while the investigations and legal proceedings continue,” Diocese of Norwich Bishop Richard Reidy said in a statement.

A 1979 article in southeastern Connecticut newspaper The Day reported LaPointe‘s appointment to a church position in the state. According to the article, he studied at Baltimore’s St. Mary’s Seminary and was ordained a priest in 1970.

He became a chaplain at the Gilman School and received a master’s degree in psychology from the Johns Hopkins University, the article reported.

LaPointe had recently served as campus minister at Eastern Connecticut State University and earlier as chaplain at Connecticut College from 1979 to 2012, according to reports.

LaPointe did not have an attorney listed in court records. He is scheduled for an initial appearance in Baltimore Circuit Court on March 26.