Pennsylvania Priest Ordered Detained until Trial

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September 29, 2014

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A Roman Catholic priest from Pennsylvania was ordered to remain jailed until his trial on charges that he possessed child pornography and traveled to Honduras for sex with children during missionary trips.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Pesto ordered the Rev. Joseph Maurizio Jr., 69, detained after prosecution evidence contrasted sharply with character witnesses who on Monday described the defendant as "priestly, faithful and committed to helping."

"What you're describing is Jekyll and Hyde, Father Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," Pesto said, before noting he can't let "Jekyll go free and detain Mr. Hyde."

Maurizio has been jailed since Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested him Thursday. A criminal complaint alleges Maurizio gave boys candy and money so he could molest them — including performing a sex act on a 14-year-old in a chapel — or watch the boys have sex. It happened during missions trips to Honduras with his self-run charity in 2009 and prior years, according to the complaint. Maurizio has been placed on leave from the Somerset County church he also pastored.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Haines told the judge authorities have found "child erotica" — which may later be proven to be child pornography — on the priest's camera when he returned from another Central American country in July. Federal agents were still reviewing the 18,000 images and won't know for about three weeks whether any are criminal.

For now, the child pornography case is based on two photos of a polio-stricken boy found on Maurizio's rectory computer, though agents are also poring through four other computers and various storage discs and other devices. The Honduran boy was "posed" to show off his genitals and could not have moved that way by himself. Haines said. He has since died.