MASSACHUSETTS: Convicted Sex Offender Arrested At Scott Lively's Coffee House

Police have arrested a convicted child molester working at the Springfield, Massachusetts coffeehouse of infamous anti-gay activist Scott Lively, who runs the business as a Christian outreach to local teenagers.

A local man who served as manager of the Holy Grounds Coffee Shop on State Street -- a cafe operated by anti-gay pastor Scott Lively that serves free coffee and offers conversation to teenage visitors -- is a sex offender from New York who was imprisoned for the sexual abuse of a 10-year-old girl in 1995, according to police. Police detectives on Thursday arrested Michael Frediani, 38, of 453 State St., for failing to register as a Level 2 sex offender in Springfield. He was living in an apartment above the coffee house. He was being held at the Springfield police lock-up, said Sgt. John M. Delaney, a spokesman to Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet. In New York, Frediani is listed as a Level 3 sex offender, defined as most likely to repeat an offense.

Frediani was convicted in New York in 1995 for "deviate sexual intercourse" with the ten year-old child. Upon his arrest in Springfield, he described himself as a "minister of Jesus." Last week Lively's coffeehouse was raided by public school truant officers, who accused Lively of allowing students to ditch school there. According to my tipster, students were offered free coffee and hot chocolate in return for wearing one of Lively's Jesus pins.

RELATED: Lively is considered largely responsible for Uganda's still-pending "Kill Gays" bill, legislation that was introduced after his visit with local evangelicals and politicians. Lively's book, The Pink Swastika, contends that the Nazi Party was conceived by and largely run by gay men. Lively is a dear, dear friend of Peter LaBarbera.