NEW JERSEY
The Record
BY KIBRET MARKOS
STAFF WRITER | THE RECORD
Jurors in Paterson started deliberating Thursday in the trial of a former Passaic priest who is accused of sexually molesting a 14-year-old girl three years ago.
Passaic County prosecutors said during a trial in Superior Court in Paterson that the Rev. Jose Lopez took the girl to his private living quarters inside the St. Mary’s Church on Market Street, placed her on his lap and touched her inappropriately.
Witnesses for the prosecution testified that the girl told them Lopez tried to rape her but she ran out of his suite. They also said he admitted that he took the girl into his suite and that he went “too far.”
Lopez was removed from the church after the allegations were reported to the Catholic diocese and later to authorities in 2013. Lopez maintains that he is innocent and that he never touched the girl in a sexual manner.
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