Fugitive former priest dies on Martinique

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BALTIMORE, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- A former Catholic priest accused of molesting boys in Connecticut and Maryland has died in Martinique and an alleged victim says "a monster is dead."

The accusations against Laurence Brett date back to the 1960s and 1970s, The Baltimore Sun reported Thursday. He was fired from Calvert Hall College High School in 1973 after several students told another teacher they had been molested.

Brett, 73, died Christmas Day in a Martinique hospital after a bad fall, newspapers in the Caribbean nation reported. He had been living there under an assumed name.

Edward Egan, then the bishop of Bridgeport, Conn., suspended Brett from the priesthood and later dismissed him after lawsuits were filed alleging molestation, the Hartford Courant reported. Egan subsequently learned of the alleged victims in Maryland.

"A monster is dead," Bob Russell, who said Brett abused him in 1973 at Calvert Hall, told the Sun. "Children in his circle are no longer going to be put in harm's way."

At least 30 men have reported being abused by Brett as children in Maryland or earlier in Connecticut, where he trained to be a priest.