PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog
Ralph Cipriano
A former altar boy told a jury Wednesday how he was stalked by a pedophile priest.
Daniel J. Guida, 36, took the witness stand to testify in the Catholic sex abuse trial. Guida told the jury how back in 1991, when he was a 15-year-old sophomore at Bishop John Neumann High School, he was in a book store browsing through gay pornographic magazines when he realized he was being watched.
Guida described hismelf as a “tiny” five-foot-one, 110-pound kid “with big hair and a moustache” who was wearing his Bishop Neumann jacket. Father Francis X. Trauger was at least 6-foot-3, Guida testified, dressed in black, but not wearing a collar.
“He taps me on the shoulder and confronts me,” Guida recalled. He had a half-dozen mags rolled up in his hand. “What are you buying?” the priest wanted to know. “I just have some magazines,” Guida recalled saying.
“I know what you have, let me see the magazines,” Guida quoted the priest as saying. The priest grabbed the magazines from Guida and browsed through them. He handed the mags back to Guida and asked the boy his name. Guida refused to answer. The priest asked Guida what school he went to. When Guida again refused to answer, the priest reminded him, “It’s on your jacket.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll find you,” the priest said, before he left.
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