Judge orders priest held in child-sex case
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JOHNSTOWN- A federal judge reversed an earlier decision to grant home detention to a Pennsylvania priest and Friday ordered him held until trial on charges of traveling to Honduras for sex with poor street children during missionary trips.
The judge cited new allegations against the Rev. Joseph Maurizio investigators said could result in more charges, and suggested the 69-year-old priest concealed considerable assets.
The hearing before U.S. District Judge Kim Gibson in Johnstown was held after federal prosecutors appealed a magistrate’s order to release Maurizio to home detention as long as his bank accounts were frozen and he was unable to access church-related funds. Prosecutors argued the 69-year-old priest was a flight risk.
Maurizio was jailed since September, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested him. A criminal complaint accuses Maurizio of giving boys candy and money while on mission trips so he could molest them – including performing a sex act on a 14-year-old in a chapel – or watch the boys have sex.
Maurizio pleaded not guilty.
In his order Friday, Gibson cited testimony from investigators federal agents recently uncovered two additional victims who allege Maurizio engaged in sexual conduct with them while they were minors. A Department of Homeland Security agent also testified that, Thursday, investigators learned Honduran police fielded three complaints over the past two years Maurizio solicited sexual conduct with children, Gibson wrote.
Honduran authorities issued an arrest warrant for Maurizio, Gibson wrote, citing the agent’s testimony.
In addition, Gibson wrote he was troubled that Maurizio did not disclose all of his assets to a pretrial services officer after his arrest. The officer estimated Maurizio’s net worth to be $107,900, based on information from Maurizio, Gibson wrote. But an Internal Revenue Service agent testified in front of Gibson Maurizio assets in excess of $1 million, the judge wrote.
Maurizio was placed on leave from the Somerset County church he pastored.