Lotto-winning ex-priest charged with sex crime

By Hoa Nguyen And Jane Lerner
Journal News
September 20, 2015

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/crime/2015/09/19/lotto-winning-ex-priest-charged-sex-crime/72485486/

Father Joseph Faraone greets worshipers before Mass in 2006 at St. Dennis Roman Catholic Church in East Fishkill.

A former priest who won more than $1 million in the lottery 30 years ago is being held in Putnam County Jail, charged with a sex crime, records show.

Joseph Faraone, 68, was charged Friday with a second-degree criminal sexual act, a felony. Bail was set at $50,000 cash. State police and the Putnam County District Attorney's office declined to release any details about the case, citing its sensitive nature.

According to the charges filed, officials are accusing Faraone of engaging in oral or anal sexual conduct with someone younger than 15 years old or with someone incapable of consent due to a mental disability or incapacity.

The charges do not appear to be associated to his time in the priesthood.

Faraone was last the associate pastor at Church of St. Denis in Hopewell Junction between 2004 and 2006 and has since left the priesthood. Before that, he spent 12 years at St. James the Apostle Church in Carmel, 11 years at Church of St. Patrick in Yorktown and nine years at St. Francis of Assisi in Mount Kisco.

In 1985, while a priest at St. Patrick's, Faraone gained much publicity after winning $1.17 million in the New York Lotto. He told reporters then he had started buying twice-weekly lottery tickets two years earlier when the parish was struggling to pay for its new, $2 million church. At the time, he pledged to use half of his winnings to pay for the church and the other half to go to family, friends and other charities.

It was unclear Saturday whether Faraone had retained a lawyer.