NEW JERSEY
Mercer County Prosecutor
Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph L. Bocchini Jr. reported today that a priest from the Diocese of Trenton was arrested and charged for engaging in sexual conduct with a teenage boy.
Shortly after eleven this morning, the Reverend Romannilo Apura, age 67, was taken into custody by detectives with the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Special Victims Unit at his residence at St. Martha Parish in Point Pleasant, NJ.
It is alleged that Apura masturbated the teenage male victim in a home in Trenton on an occasion in the late spring/early summer of 2014. A second incident occurred in June 2014 when Apura attempted to remove the same victim’s pants.
Apura is charged with one count of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, one count of third-degree aggravated criminal sexual contact and one count of fourth-degree attempt to commit criminal sexual contact. He is being held at the Mercer County Correction Center in lieu of $100,000 cash or bond bail. As conditions of bail, Mercer County Superior Court Judge PedroJ. Jimenez Jr. ordered that Apura surrender his passport and have no contact with the victim or any other children.
The Diocese of Trenton reported the allegations to the prosecutor’s office earlier this week and an investigation ensued. Anyone with information on the case should contact the prosecutor’s Special Victims Unit at (609) 989-6568.
There is no scheduled court date at this time.
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