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	Pastor of Piscataway Church Faces Sexual-Contact Charges Home News Tribune October 24, 2007 http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071024/NEWS/71024017 NEW BRUNSWICK: The 51-year-old pastor of a Roman Catholic church in Piscataway has been charged with criminal sexual contact in connection with allegations of inapproriate touching lodged against him by an employee of the Metuchen diocese. The Rev. Edgardo D. Abano, the pastor since 1992 at St. Francis Cabrini R.C. Church, was arrested Tuesday by members of the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office Sex Crimes/ Child Abuse Unit and the Piscataway Police Department's Special Victim's Unit. Criminal sexual contact is a fourth-degree crime which carries a maximum sentence of 18 months behind bars. The Prosecutor's Office said in a release that the investigation began Sept. 25, based on information received directly from the Diocese of Metuchen. A subsequent joint investigation conducted by the prosecutor and Piscataway police revealed that an adult male employee of the diocese had reported that Abano inappropriately touched his buttocks and chest on various occasions in 2005. The incidents allegedly occurred in the church's rectory. According to the Diocese of Metuchen, Abano was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest on May 18, 1985. Abano has served at various New Jersey parishes: in 1985 at Our Lady of Lourdes in Whitehouse Station, from 1985 to 1989 at Immaculate Conception Church in Somerville, from 1989 to 1990 at Saint Philip & Saint James Church in Phillipsburg, from 1990 to 1992 at Our Lady of Fatima in Piscataway, and from 1992 to the present at St. Francis Cabrini in Piscataway. According to the diocese, Abano voluntarily took a leave of absence from his position as pastor at St. Francis Cabrini and voluntarily agreed to have his priestly duties suspended. Abano is free on $1,500 bail. Anyone with information regarding about this investigation, or incidents similar in nature, is asked to contact Investigator Michael Daniewicz of the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office Sex Crimes/ Child Abuse Unit at (732) 745-3600 or Detective Michael Trojanowski of the Piscataway Police Department at (732) 562-2370.
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