The Crash Program

Crash Barry

Season One of the Crash Program is "Devils and Dirtbags," an investigation of the child molesting Catholic priests of Springfield, Massachusetts. Season Two, "Tough Island," is a dramatic and comedic audio version of Crash's memoir of living and working Maine's most remote uninhabited island when he was a much younger man. Season Three is Disinfomaniacs with Andy O'Brien (and occasionally Nathan Bernard) where they take a closer look at chuds, Christian-Nationalists and other weirdos in Maine. www.crashbarry.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. Unholy Fathers, E11 Richard Lavigne, Part 4

    11 JAN

    Unholy Fathers, E11 Richard Lavigne, Part 4

    A quick refresher on the sins and crimes of Richard Lavigne, the worst of all the bad priests in the Catholic diocese of Springfield, Massachusetts: In 1972, Lavigne murdered Danny Croteau, the sweet and innocent 13-year-old boy who the priest had been molesting for years. Also, we know that Lavigne sexually assaulted multiple dozens of others — mostly altar boys — during the 1970s, 80s and up until 1991. As I explained in the first three episodes (1 2 3) of Unholy Fathers, the Catholic diocese of Springfield, along with local DA and others, covered up for Lavigne. Until 1991, when a brave teenager came forward with a thorough and horrifying accounting of the three years of abuse he suffered at the hands of Lavigne. In today’s episode, we’re going back in time, to February 2019, when I knocked on the door of Richard Lavigne’s dead parent’s house in the western Massachusetts city of Chicopee for the murderer’s ONLY media interview, ever. Thing is, despite my hidden recording equipment, Massachusetts law prevents me from using the audio. (Laws vary from state to state.) However, here’s a pic of the then-78-year-old murderer sitting in his living room, during our interview, before he gave me a tour of his abode. This podcast episode is a verbatim account of my conversation with the murderer Lavigne. Obviously since this was initially published five years ago, a lot has changed since. However, there is a specific update to this episode that is pertinent in today’s climate of cover-up and distraction. The day after my interview with Lavigne in February 2019, I drove to the Springfield Chancery — aka the Diocese’s headquarters — and knocked on enough doors until the church’s local spokesman Mark Dupont agreed to meet with me in a vestibule for a brief conversation. My goal: specifically ask about the allegations Lavigne made regarding Father John Klekotka, the pastor of Lavigne’s first parish when the murderer was a young priest.  [[insert excerpt]] To say Dupont was non-reactive would be an overstatement. The diocese spokesman claimed not to know anything about Father Klekotka and declined to answer any questions and ignored several follow up emails. Here’s the thing, in late May of 2021, a year-and-a-half after today’s podcast episode initially aired, the Diocese of Springfield released an updated list of bad priests, including an additional 40 new names of priests credibly accused of molesting children. And on that list: the aforementioned Fr. John R. Klekotka, the pastor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus parish in Easthampton, Massachusetts. Church officials, however, were still hesitant to convict the now-dead priest who shuffled his mortal coil — hopefully to hell — in 1974. Fella can’t defend himself from beyond the veil, church officials argue, so his name is on the list with an asterisk of sorts.  The available info about Klekotka from the diocese — not surprisingly — is less than scant. Here’s the official version: Fr. John R. Klekotka served as a priest for almost 50 years until he kicked the bucket. The “nature of reported conduct” is “sexual abuse of a minor” for a seven year period, from 1963 until 1970. According to the diocese, it was the sole credible allegation. And if you believe that, I’ve got a bridge to the Vatican for sale. Cheap  read more via crashbarry.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 6m
  2. Unholy Fathers, E10 The Lying Depraved Bishop, Part 2

    29/12/2025

    Unholy Fathers, E10 The Lying Depraved Bishop, Part 2

    There are only a handful of good priests in the Unholy Fathers saga of the sins and crimes committed by the child-raping clergy of Springfield, Massachusetts. From Bishop Thomas Dupre to Richard Lavigne to the scores of other “credibly accused,” most of the alleged holy men I’ve reported on are actual devils and dirtbags.  In Episode 10, though, we hear the story of Rev. James Scahill, or “Father Jim,” as he was known to his adoring parishioners at St. Michael’s Parish in East Longmeadow. He was the rare hero of Catholic priests, one who stood up for victims of priestly abuse. And he was the special sort of Catholic cleric, one who listened to his congregation. He became further empowered after hearing from his flock who were tired of their financial contributions paying for the lifestyles of bad priests. Especially to Lavigne, the child-murderer. Inspired by his parishioners, Scahill took to speaking truth to power —specifically to the serial rapist Bishop Dupre — and undertook a revolutionary act (for a Catholic priest) by publicly disobeying his bosses. Scahill understood how important money was to the Bishop, so the pastor made the power move — with support from his parish — and began to withhold the six percent of parish earnings, aka the “cathedralticum” payment, paid to the Bishop every month. Which meant Scahill became a major thorn in the dirty bishop’s side. While his litany of complaints mostly focussed on Lavigne-the-murderer still being on church payroll, Scahill was also obsessed with the rumor that we now know to be true: The Bishops of Springfield had intentionally destroyed secret records in order to protect their child molesting priests from criminal prosecution. In mid-September 2002, hundreds of priests from the Springfield diocese descended on a hotel in Cape Neddick, Maine for a “spiritual retreat.” Called by Bishop Dupre, the retreat was an attempt at damage control and to deal with the fallout from the diocese’s child molestation scandal. During a lull in the meeting, Father Scahill rose and addressed his brethren.  “No matter what anyone says,” the renegade priest intoned, “there is no virtue to obedience that requires the surrender of virtue. There is no virtue to obedience that requires one to go myopically blind, like the soldiers of Hitler.” There was silence, momentarily, then Bishop Dupre bellowed. “Father Scahill, you are being disobedient. You have broken your oath of office as a pastor. And you have cost the diocese thousands and thousands of dollars with the timing of your stunt…” Father Scahill interrupted. “I’m listening to my parishioners. And they tell me to…” “SILENCE!” The Bishop glowered, pointing at Father Scahill. “Remember your vows,” he sputtered threateningly. The following year, the Bishop and his underlings tried to shift attention away from the scandal. Dupre made a very public and loud attempt to reassert the church’s moral authority on social issues. That’s why, in 2003, he became the face and voice of the anti-marriage equality movement in Massachusetts and vociferously argued that marriage was meant to be a union between man and woman. And very few folks dared to challenge his hateful rhetoric. After all, Dupre was the most powerful religious spiritual leader in western Mass. Meanwhile in California, one of Dupre’s victims stumbled across a wire service news story reporting on the Bishop’s sanctimonious moralizing. This now grown man — who had been repeatedly raped by Dupre from 1977 to 1982 — decided he’d kept his mouth shut long enough. He knew a reporter from the Springfield newspapers named Bill Zajac was working hard to bring the Bishop down. And with some assistance from Father Scahill, the tide turned and Dupre became the first American Catholic to be indicted on child rape charges. Unfortunately, like many powerful men accused of sex crimes against children, the Bishop was never prosecuted. And Dupre lived for another dozen years in relative comfort and luxury, dying in 2016 at 83. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 3m
  3. Unholy Fathers E7 Father X, part 4

    09/12/2025

    Unholy Fathers E7 Father X, part 4

    Before discussing Part 4 of Father X’s story of sins and crimes from my Unholy Fathers podcast, here’s a New Year’s prediction: In early January, Donald Trump will doze off during an “Alien Disclosure” press conference after introducing the secret alliance of Ant-People, Venusians, Grays, Plejaren (aka Pleiadeans) and neo-Anunnaki, who are revealed to be the actual rulers of Planet Earth. At any other time in our country’s history, my prognostication would sound like a bizarre conspiracy theory. Under the Trump regime, though, it’s just another day in the Oval Office. One more chapter in the on-going golden pedo cover-up, constructed to distract us from the actual big reveal: Trump and other oligarchs are guilty scum and will do anything they can to protect Epstein and the list of ruling-class child-abusing perverts. As part of the cover-up, the racist-rapist and his toadies embraced war crimes, murdering sailors while implementing local martial-law and grifting at a speed faster than light, all as part of their current distract-a-thon, which also includes weaponizing the Justice Department, rebranding the DoD as Department of War and using ICE agents to gestapo people of color. The acceptance of these tactics by GOPers like Paul LePage and Susan Collins shows how quickly Republican bootlickers are willing to kowtow to fascism as the orange-carcassed meat-puppet, stinking of fecal matter, rots into his corrupt bones. And they applaud while the president of the USA dons the Dying Despot of the Year medal awarded by FIFA, the consolation prize for the whining baby with a full diaper and a mushroom micro-penis. This remake of The Emperor’s New Clothes, called The Autocrat’s New Colostomy Bag is more proof that without some serious course correction — SOON — we’re screwed. As Peter Thiel waits for the death throes in order to install his suck-boi James Donald Bowman (aka James David Hamel, aka JP Mandel, aka JD Vance), gotta wonder what’s next for MAGA Daddy. Will he continue to defy the courts and ignore due process? Will he elevate Laura Loomer to the Cabinet? Will he order RFK to lower prices on Adrenochrome and Ivermectin in order to keep his base happy and alive? Or will he command Space Force to blast 3i Atlas from the solar system, triggering an intergalactic battle that results in advanced beings destroying our planet? Hard telling, since the short-finger vulgarian will go to seemingly any length to prevent the truth of his pederasty being exposed. Speaking of extremely-rich, elderly white male sex criminals… here in Maine, former gubernatorial candidate and current scumbag Eliot Cutler is facing allegations he violated probation by trying to hire a San Francisco sex worker during an upcoming vacation to the Left Coast to visit “elderly friends,” according to affidavit filed by his probation officer. The 79-year-old Cutler (born a mere 34 days after Trump, btw) is also alleged to have accessed sexually explicit content online and possessing unmonitored devices, according to court documents, all of which are probation violations. A court hearing is scheduled for Dec. 16. Meaning the a*****e might be back in the clink before Christmas to serve out the remainder of his OG four-year prison sentence, which had been reduced, thanks to his May 2023 plea deal. That’s when he pled guilty to four counts of possession of sexually explicit material of a child under 12 years old and was ordered to serve 9 months in the Hancock County Jail. He’ll be back behind bars, that is, unless Cutler’s high-priced legal eagles find a way to convince the court to cut the old perv another break on Dec. 16. I wrote (exhaustively) re: this case for a Crash Report in Feb 2024, so you can read all about this dirtbag’s history and conviction here in The Pre-Obituary of Eliot Cutler. Short version: His troubles in started in 2022 when cops were tipped off to Cutler’s on-line activities after he shared a 447 GB folder of illicit images (including a video of an adult male raping a four year-old girl) with some other perverts. In March of that year, Cutler was arrested at his multi-million dollar “farmhouse” in the Hancock County town of Brooklyn. At the time, his electronics were seized and cops discovered over 80,000 images of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on his computers and drives. A year later, his legal team struck a sweet plea deal and the millionaire did a quick seven-and-a-half months in the Hancock County pokey, a fraction of his four-year sentence. And practically nuthin’, compared to other pervs busted with an equal amount of disgusting filth on their computers. Obviously, his big bank account was the reason why Cutler got such easy preferential treatment. After all, any non-monied schmuck facing the same charges wouldn’t have been able to get a judge to ignore the other 79,996 pieces of child sexual abuse material found on Cutler’s electronica. Below, in an excerpt from his “Pre-Obituary,” I explain how his cash makes it easier for a sexual predator like him to escape justice, even when the evidence is overwhelming. Welcome to Paradise Creek For more evidence on how Cutler’s wealth influenced the outcome of his case, let’s take a close look at the millionaire’s stay at the “Paradise Creek Recovery Center” in Malta, Idaho. After all, his attorney Walt McKee argued that Cutler’s 28-days of therapy at the eight-bedroom house with views of grazing cattle and Idaho’s high mountain desert should prove to the court that Cutler wasn’t likely to re-offend. In his memo to the judge, McKee explained that Cutler’s time at the Paradise Creek Recovery Center, “was highly intensive and combined what would otherwise be a year and a half of intensive individual and group therapy into 28 days.” Before getting into the critique of the efficacy of this type of therapy, let’s get some fiscal facts out of the way. I haven’t been able to find pricing info for any so-called “28-day program” at Paradise Creek, but here are some fees for the recovery center’s “Sex Addiction and Pornography Addiction Treatment Programs.” A five-week stay at Paradise Creek, for instance, costs $26,875 for “a private room, all treatment modalities, meals and snacks included.” The six-week package (snacks also included) goes for $32,250. Cash only. No insurance accepted. Also, for an unknown reason, program attendees are required to bring an additional $5,ooo in cash, pre-paid credit card or certified check when they arrive at Paradise Creek. As you can see in the screenshot below from the Paradise Creek website, the center’s policy requires “anyone who is or may be involved in a legal process to enroll in the six-week treatment program.” Yet, according to Cutler’s lawyer, the former gubernatorial hopeful only spent 28 days at the Idaho joint, even though he was out-on-bail for possessing CSAM and the center’s own rules required a longer stay. For an unknown reason, Cutler’s therapeutic stay was two weeks shorter than what the recovery center actually requires for pervs of his ilk. His lawyer neglected to mention that apparent privilege, instead telling the court Cutler successfully completed the program. Below is the sample weekly schedule for Paradise Creek program attendees. According to promo materials, in addition to group and one-on-one therapy, there is weekly art therapy, music therapy, as well as daily yoga and fitness programs. A frequent backyard marshmallow roast (weather permitting) is part of the package and includes the “opportunity to talk about principles of recovery in a less formal environment and, at the same time, enjoy some food that can easily be warmed or cooked over a campfire.” Fridays, when the weather is nice, the program heads a half hour to the west to the “City of Rocks” state park for hiking, picnic lunch, and, if so desired, a therapy session done in a private spot in the great outdoors. Obviously, the treatment at Paradise Creek is geared to monied folks like Cutler. While the people running the place seem to be compassionate (at least on video), how effective is the actual program? After all, in Cutler’s case, at the time of his stay in Idaho, he was a 76-year-old male with admitted “decades” of addiction to CSAM and a current hoard of over 80,000 images, in police custody, on his electronics. Pretty sure four weeks of talk therapy in the high desert ain’t gonna make a dent his brain-sickness. Unless, perhaps, the regimen included daily ayahuasca sessions coupled with round-the-clock behavior modification programming, reinforced with electro-shock therapy. Alas, that’s not what’s offered at Paradise Creek, a sober facility that eschews punitive solutions. Instead, the place focuses on treating “the trauma that resulted in the problematic sexual behavior.” In addition to the variety of therapy modalities, there are frequent recitations of affirmations (the 12 Pillars, written by the center’s owner-psychiatrist) plus 12-step meetings and many hour-long blocks set aside for personal reflection. Therapists at Paradise Creek also utilize guided meditations, some of which are akin to mild hypnotherapy. Plus the center’s director bragged their “arsenal of tools” includes EDMR, aka “Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing,” a relatively new therapy, allegedly treating trauma through moving (or rolling) eyes in a certain manner while the subject processes traumatic memories. Whether EDMR works is up for debate, especially for an entitled old man like Cutler whose neural pathways are carved thick and deep in his big, meaty brain. The elephant in the room, of course, is how to gauge whether this sort of treatment has any impact on someone like Cutler. Remember, he’s been “addicted” for decades to criminal content that victimizes and scars children for life. Unfortunately, the assessment

    1h 2m

About

Season One of the Crash Program is "Devils and Dirtbags," an investigation of the child molesting Catholic priests of Springfield, Massachusetts. Season Two, "Tough Island," is a dramatic and comedic audio version of Crash's memoir of living and working Maine's most remote uninhabited island when he was a much younger man. Season Three is Disinfomaniacs with Andy O'Brien (and occasionally Nathan Bernard) where they take a closer look at chuds, Christian-Nationalists and other weirdos in Maine. www.crashbarry.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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