Third Day of Father Joseph Maurizio Trial

By Maria Miller
WJAC
September 14, 2015

http://www.wjactv.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/third-day-father-joseph-maurizio-trial-7115.shtml

Prosecutors say they have dozens of cancelled checks totaling thousands of dollars that a Central City priest wrote to himself to pay for trips overseas to abuse young boys. During the third day of trial, the jury heard from a man who attended Father Joseph Maurizo’s church in the mid-1990s and started helping with his missions. Richard Bossler testified he paid his own way for trips to Honduras where he eventually became a sponsorship coordinator. His main job: collecting money and gifts locally to bring overseas for the orphaned children. Prosecutors also asked him about money, specifically dozens of checks, that he cosigned. Checks he said Maurizio would write to himself from his charity or church to reimburse himself for trip expenses when he returned. $1,000 in cash or more each time. But those checks, prosecutors said, were in addition to checks Maurizio would cash ahead of his trips for advance funds. A special agent with the IRS went through several of those checks Monday afternoon saying he found it odd Maurizio would reimburse himself from both his church and his charity before and after. That same agent said Maurizio failed to report more than $1 million in personal assets after his arrest last year. A figure he said didn’t seem to fit the needs of a Catholic priest. It’s not clear how many more witnesses prosecutors plan to call. They had said they requested VISAs for at least four young men from Honduras, but so far only two have taken the stand. When the prosecution wraps up, it will be the defense’s turn to call any witnesses they may have, so this trial could last several more days.