The mother of a young man who befriended a suspected devil worshipper yesterday called the 34-year-old Braintree man a controlling ``nut'' who preys on troubled youth.
``This is the type of person who parents fear and want to keep their kids away from,'' the mother said of George Picard, who is accused of taking a human skull from a cemetery and stealing a fetus.
George Picard
``He's a freakin' nut. He's twisted. He sucks in troubled kids,'' said the mother, who did not want her name used.
The mother said Picard liked to shock friends with what she called ``gothic'' paraphernalia.
Picard, an alleged drug dealer, was arrested Tuesday after a police search also turned up a human brain, dangerous chemicals, Satanic writings and occult paraphernalia.
Picard pleaded innocent Wednesday to a number of charges, including disinterment of a body and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, and was ordered to undergo a mental evaluation at Medfield State Hospital.
Police first searched Picard's apartment last month looking for stolen items. They returned Tuesday, after Picard's friend, Michael Alfano, 21, told police about Picard's collection, according to a search warrant affidavit. Alfano, who had lived with Picard for six weeks, said Picard had stolen from him, according to the affidavit. Alfano also said he was with Picard when he slipped into the Vinton family vault in an 18th-century Braintree graveyard and stole the skull.
According to the affidavit, Alfano told investigators that Picard told him he stole the fetus from New England Medical Center while working as an electrician.
But NEMC officials yesterday said Picard never worked for them nor had there been any ``tissue'' thefts, and according to records at the state Division of Professional Licensure, Picard is not a licensed electrician.
Mike Morrisey, spokesman for the Bonnie Babies Foundation, a nonprofit support group for pregnancy loss, said investigators told him the fetus was an 82- to 84-year-old museum piece.
Braintree neighbors said Picard had lived in foster homes as a youngster, but a Department of Social Services spokeswoman said yesterday the agency had no record of him back to 1985.
Neighbors said Picard had worked as a baker and recently earned money doing odd jobs around the neighborhood. He had lived in the apartment for three years with his girlfriend, who recently moved out.
Groton pagan Diane DesRochers yesterday cited concern among the pagan community whenever some ``sick person like that screams he's a Satanist.''
``Don't lump us with that,'' she said. ``We are responsible citizens. Body parts . . . digging up cemeteries. I'm sorry. That's just disturbing.''