Altoona-johnstown Priest Pleads Not Guilty to Child-sex Charges

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
October 14, 2014

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/east/2014/10/14/Cambria-County-priest/stories/201410140157

A Somerset County priest charged with sexually abusing children in Honduras appeared briefly today in U.S. District Court in Johnstown for his arraignment and entered a standard not guilty plea.

Rev. Joseph Maurizio, 69, was indicted last week on child-sex charges and possession of child pornography after an investigation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

He is being held in the Cambria County Prison pending a detention hearing. Last week, the U.S. attorney's office requested he be detained pending trial as a flight risk, and a magistrate today ordered that he will remain behind bars while his lawyer and federal prosecutors gather information about nearly $1 million in various bank accounts to which the priest has access.

Rev. Maurizio, pastor at Our Lady Queen of Angels, traveled regularly to Honduras on mission trips and abused young boys in an orphanage there, according to a federal grand jury.

Torsten Ove: tove@post-gazette.com.