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	Victim in Diocese Sex Abuse Case Testifies By Ann Givens The Newsday [Mineola] April 23, 2007 http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-lisex0424,0,822228.story A young woman who was molested for years by her church youth minister took the stand in State Supreme Court in Mineola Monday morning to tell her gruelling tale. The woman, whom Newsday is not naming because she is a victim of sexual abuse, told how an innocent crush on Matthew Maiello, a youth minister at St. Raphael's Catholic Church in East Meadow, turned into a nightmare, after Maiello began manipulating her into having sex with him, and later with a 15-year-old boy in her youth group. The woman and the boy are now suing Maiello, the church, its priest, Rev. Thomas Haggerty and the Diocese of Rockville Centre in civil court. "He told me it would be OK -- that we loved each other and God wanted us to be together," she said. The woman's testimony will continue Monday afternoon. Maiello is expected to be the next witness. In 2003, he pleaded guilty to raping and sodomizing four teenagers, including the two complainants in this civil trial. Contact: ann.givens@newsday.com
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