Middlesex County District Attorney Martha Coakley announces that Shanley has been arrested.
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SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) -- A retired Roman Catholic priest accused of molesting boys during his decades as a religious leader in the Boston area was arrested Thursday morning by San Diego, California, police -- with whom he had once volunteered -- on three counts of raping a child with force.
Paul Shanley, 71, has been at the center of a scandal rocking the Archdiocese of Boston. Church officials last month turned over internal documents that said Shanley had advocated sex between men and boys and that church officials knew for years of numerous allegations of sexual abuse leveled against the priest.
The alleged rapes involved one male victim, according to authorities, and occurred between 1983 and 1990. Shanley was arrested at his apartment on a Newton, Massachusetts, warrant without incident, according to San Diego police.
In Massachusetts, Martha Coakley, the Middlesex district attorney, suggested there could be more charges filed against Shanley involving more alleged victims