Former Oakland County Priest Sentenced in Sex Abuse Cases

OAKLAND COUNTY, MI — A former priest in Oakland County was sentenced Thursday to at least more than a year in prison after pleading guilty to sex abuse, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced.

Gary Berthiaume, 79, pleaded guilty in November to two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and no contest to one count of gross indecency.

Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Daniel P. O'Brien sentenced Berthiaume to serve between 17 months and 15 years on the second-degree criminal sexual conduct counts and between 17 months and five years on the gross indecency count.

Berthiaume will also register as a tier II sex offender and undergo counseling.

"While we recognize no sentence can ever undo the harm inflicted on survivors of sexual abuse, it remains our priority to secure accountability for those who bravely share their stories," Nessel said.

The cases against Berthiaume stemmed from allegations of abuse in the 1970s involving three different victims who were between 13 and 15-years-old at the time, according to the news release. He was a priest at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Wyandotte and later Our Lady of Sorrows in Farmington during that timeframe.