LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) -- A Roman Catholic priest convicted of child molestation left jail after a judge ruled his detention on a later charge violated terms of a plea bargain.
Gilbert Gauthe, 59, first pleaded guilty in 1985 to 33 charges involving 11 boys, but he admitted that he had molested dozens of others. In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors had given Gauthe immunity from any other charges involving children molested before 1985.He was released in 1995 after serving 10 years of a 20-year sentence. But Gauthe was arrested two years later, charged with raping a 12-year-old girl in 1982.
On Monday, a judge ruled that Gauthe's 1997 arrest and detention pending trial had violated his earlier plea agreement.
The former priest didn't speak to reporters as he stepped into a relative's car outside jail on Wednesday. He was headed toward Texas, said his attorney G. Paul Marx.
Gauthe is still on seven years of probation for fondling a 3-year-old boy in 1996.