NEW JERSEY
The Jersey Journal
By Patrick McGovern/The Jersey Journal
on May 29, 2014
The Archdiocese of Newark is pledging to cooperate fully with the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office investigation of John Mercado, the longtime Jersey City youth sports coach and teacher charged with molesting seven boys over the past three decades.
School officials at Elysian Charter School have said that Mercado would be suspended from his administrative assistant and athletic director positions there. Mercado also formerly worked at the now-closed St. Anne’s School in the Jersey City Heights and Hoboken Catholic Academy.
“Teachers do go through background checks,” said archdiocese spokesman Jim Goodness. “We are checking right now to make sure Mr. Mercado went through those checks.”
“We are certainly aware of the case, and will corporate fully with the prosecutor’s office,” he noted.
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