Federal sex-crimes trial for accused Johnstown priest delayed until fall

By Torsten Ove
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
February 7, 2015

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/region/2015/02/07/Federal-sex-crimes-trial-for-accused-Johnstown-priest-delayed-until-fall/stories/201502070145

The federal trial of a Johnstown-area priest accused of traveling to Honduras for sex with young boys has been pushed back from next month to September and is expected to last four weeks or longer.

U.S. District Judge Kim Gibson on Friday ordered the trial of Rev. Joseph Maurizio, 69, delayed until the fall trial term in Johnstown.

The trial had been scheduled for March 9 but both sides said they needed more time to prepare.

The judge said the trial is expected to last three or four weeks, and possibly take a fifth week, because many of the witnesses don't speak English and will need an interpreter.

Rev. Maurizio remains jailed pending trial as a danger to the community and a risk to flee, especially considering his apparent wealth. Although he told a pre-trial services officer that his net worth was $107,000, the IRS Criminal Investigation Division found that it was really about $1 million.

Rev. Maurizio was charged in September with illicit sex with minors in foreign countries and possession of child pornography following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Agents raided his church, our Lady Queen of Angels, and his Windber farm on Sept. 12 and seized computers, thumb drives, tapes and other media.

HSI had long been investigating the priest on suspicion of traveling to Honduras and other nations to have sex with children, according to court records and testimony. An agent traveled to Honduras in the summer to track down male juveniles who said Rev. Maurizio had molested them. Presumably those witnesses will be brought to the U.S. to testify.