BUFFALO (NY)
The Buffalo News
By Jay Tokasz
News Staff Reporter
Authorities didn’t charge a Catholic priest accused of groping a former parishioner because they had no corroborating evidence, and the alleged victim did not cooperate in the investigation, according to Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III.
The priest, the Rev. Secondo Casarotto, 70, was abruptly removed as pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Church last weekend and placed on administrative leave, after Catholic Diocese of Buffalo officials learned of a criminal complaint in which a former female parishioner accused him of sexual misconduct.
The woman, who is in her 30s, filed a complaint with Buffalo police last June in which she reported that Casarotto allegedly groped her two years earlier — in the summer of 2009 — while the two were in the priest’s residence at the church on Court Street.
“The police made a decision not to arrest him, and we agreed with that determination,” Sedita said.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.