Jury Begins Deliberations in Trial of Priest Accused of Sexually Abusing Orphans

By Torsten Ove
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
September 21, 2015

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/region/2015/09/21/Jury-begins-deliberations-in-trial-of-priest-accused-of-sexually-abusing-orphans/stories/201509210178

Rev. Joseph Maurizio of Somerset is set to go on trial on charges he created a charity and traveled to Hondoras to have sex with boys there. HO from police

A federal jury today began deliberating in the case of a Somerset County priest accused of molesting orphans during mission trips in Honduras.

The Rev. Joseph Maurizio, 70, went on trial seven days ago in U.S. District Court in Johnstown.

The parties made their closing arguments this morning and the jury began deliberating at about 2:30.

Rev. Maurizio, the suspended pastor at Our Lady Queen of Angels in Central City, was arrested a year ago on charges of molesting three boys on trips to the ProNino orphanage between 2004 and 2009.

The Justice Department said the priest was known as the “money man” who used cash from a charity he created to fund trips to the orphanage and to pay boys for sex acts.

But Rev. Maurizio’s lawyer, Steven Passarello, has argued that the prosecution has failed to prove its case and pointed out that the FBI had examined the same facts in 2009 without taking action. It was the Department of Homeland Security that pursued the case last year.

Mr. Passarello’s defense received a boost last week when one of the three alleged victims recanted on the stand and said Rev. Maurizio never molested him.