Priest Charged for Engaging in Sexual Conduct with Teenager

Mercer County Prosecutor
August 21, 2014

http://www.mercercountyprosecutor.com/press/Apura%20Arrest.pdf

[Apura Arrest]

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 Pedro

J. 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.

Despite having been charged, all persons are presumed innocent until found guilty beyond a

reasonable doubt in a court of law.