Catholic leaders knew N.J. priest was accused of abuse. He became a ‘youth minister’ anyway, lawsuit says.

NEWARK (NJ)
Star Ledger

March 9, 2019

By Kelly Heyboer

Catholic Church officials learned in 2003 one of their priests had been accused of sexually abusing a boy years earlier while he was a Boy Scout leader before he joined the clergy, according to a new lawsuit.

But Archdiocese of Newark leaders still assigned the priest to a Union County parish, where he became “head of youth ministry” and began abusing another young boy a year later, according to a civil lawsuit filed this week by the alleged victim.

The Rev. Kevin Gugliotta, a nationally-ranked poker player, pleaded guilty in 2017 to disseminating child pornography in Pennsylvania. He was sentenced to up to 23 1/2 months in jail and has been permanently removed from ministry.

In the new lawsuit, one of his alleged victims, identified by the pseudonym Richard Roe, says the Archdiocese of Newark, then-Archbishop John H. Myers and St. Bartholomew of the Apostle Parish in Scotch Plains should be held responsible for the priest’s alleged abuse at the Union County parish.

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