BIDDEFORD — A City Council meeting turned chaotic Tuesday night when a man Matt Lauzon claims sexually abused him as a young teenager walked into the council chambers.

Lauzon, a 30-year-old Boston businessman who grew up in Biddeford, alleges Michael McKeown, 49, a registered sex offender who lives across from the baseball fields on May Street, sexually abused him when he was 13 or 14 years old. McKeown, on the other hand, says the two did have a sexual encounter, but Lauzon was at least 18 at the time and it was consensual.

Lauzon’s accusations, which he made public early this month, prompted city officials to draft an ordinance restricting where registered sex offenders can live in Biddeford. The council passed that ordinance unanimously at the meeting, just seconds after McKeown walked in.

Before the ordinance was passed, McKeown asked the council if he could speak about it, despite arriving after the period allowing public comment had ended. The council voted 6-3 against bending the rules to let him speak.

At that point, several people swarmed around him, shouting obscenities at him and demanding answers regarding Lauzon’s accusations against him. Lauzon, who was sitting in the front row of the audience during the meeting, calmly approached McKeown and asked to have a “productive discussion” with him, but that proved impossible amid the disorder.

After the meeting was adjourned, McKeown told the media that Lauzon is “full of bologna.”

“I never molested Lauzon,” he said. “It was a consensual situation. … He was like 18 or 19.”

When asked why he came to the meeting, McKeown said he wanted to tell the council he thinks the ordinance it ended up passing is unfair.

“I don’t think it’s fair they’re going to boot me out of my neighborhood,” he said. “I think these people should give me a chance and a break.”

McKeown said he knows he will not actually be forced to move under the new ordinance, which prohibits people convicted of sexually abusing children under 14 from living within 750 feet of public schools or city-owned properties where children are frequently found, such as parks, fields and playgrounds. Registered sex offenders already living in those areas, like McKeown, will be “grandfathered” and allowed to stay in their homes, explained City Attorney Keith Jacques, adding that state law prohibits ordinances from being retroactive.

But McKeown said he still feels he is being unfairly targeted.

“I am blown away that Mr. McKeown showed up here tonight,” said Lauzon, adding that he would have liked to see him get a chance to address the council.

When told what McKeown had to say about the alleged abuse, Lauzon said, “That’s incorrect. … I believe I was 13 or 14.”

In February, Lauzon also publicly accused former Biddeford Police Sgt. Stephen Dodd of sexually abusing him as a child, which sparked several other similar allegations against Dodd as well as former Biddeford detective Norman Gaudette.

The Maine Attorney General’s Office conducted separate investigations of both Dodd and Gaudette more than a decade ago, but neither was ever charged. Last month, the Attorney General’s Office confirmed it is currently investigating child sex abuse allegations against a former Biddeford officer, but the details of that investigation remain unclear.

Alleged victims and their supporters have for months fought for the temporary suspension of Biddeford Police Chief Roger Beaupre and Deputy Chief JoAnne Fisk. Sen. David Dutremble, D-Biddeford, expressed his support for that action at Tuesday’s meeting.

“Some see their continued presence and oversight of the police department as intimidation, or at the very least an obstacle to uncovering the truth,” he said. “Their temporary removal is one step toward showing Biddeford residents you reject the status quo and are determined to seek justice.”

Dutremble then held up a folder full of what he said were reports from alleged victims too afraid to bring their accusations to the Biddeford Police Department or the Attorney General’s Office.

“I’ve had people come to me and say, ”˜I cannot … go to the (police) station because people in authority were there years ago and nothing was done,’” he said. “We have a signed letter by a detective that states the AG’s Office knowingly and willingly swept some stuff under the rug, so they don’t feel comfortable going to the AG’s Office. They’re coming to me.”

— Staff Writer Angelo J. Verzoni can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or averzoni@journaltribune.com.