Editorial | Friars deserve more than probation for child endangerment

PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

May 10, 2018

While Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro is touting the fact that two Franciscan friars accepted guilty pleas on charges of endangering the welfare of children, we believe the punishment brought by the legal bargaining is too soft for these men who allowed children to be in the presence of a known pedophile.

The Revs. Robert D’Aversa and Anthony Criscitelli – of the Third Order Regular, Province of the Immaculate Conception – assigned Brother Stephen Baker to duties where he could be in contact with young people, even after learning that he had a history of sexual abuse.

Blair County Judge Jolene G. Kopriva sentenced Criscitelli and D’Aversa to

five years’ probation and fined them $1,000 each – the maximum for misdemeanor endangerment given the admissions they made.

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