Pedophile ex-priest killed in his home reportedly hired male hookers

By Gabrielle Fonrouge And Craig Mccarthy
New York Post
March 13, 2019

https://nyp.st/2HCk6On

John Capparelli

The New Jersey pedophile priest who was found shot to death in his Nevada home had a history of hiring male prostitutes, and police believe he was targeted for death, according to reports and neighbors.

The Henderson Police Department outside of Las Vegas has declined to comment on John Capparelli’s “suspicious” death, which has been ruled a homicide by the Clark County Coroner, but the local Fox 5 outlet reported the disgraced and defrocked priest had a history of ordering male prostitutes, citing police sources.

Capparelli, who’s been accused of sexually abusing at least two dozen young men while a New Jersey priest in the 1970s and 1980s and appeared on a list of Garden State priests credibly accused of sex abuse last month, was found dead on his kitchen floor on Saturday with a gunshot wound to his neck, the coroner’s office said.

When reached by The Post, neighbor Martha Lovato, 71, said police implied Capparelli’s death was a targeted attack.

“A policeman came to our door to ask if there were any outside cameras… they said they were investigating a crime in the neighborhood,” Lovato said.

Lovato added cops told her there was no cause for concern, leading her to believe it was a targeted attack.

“It sounds to me that somebody had a personal vendetta against him,” she said.

Another neighbor said cops believe Capparelli was killed last Wednesday Mar. 6 because he didn’t show up for dinner plans with a friend that night. Joann D’Angelo said the friend came by on Saturday morning to check on Capparelli and called police, who broke in and found his body.

D’Angelo said she was home all day that Wednesday and didn’t hear any gunshots coming from the home.

The coroner’s office said they were told by the police department they could not release any details on why the death was ruled a homicide in the interest of tracking down the person responsible, but did say a relative came to the morgue to identify Capparelli’s remains on March 11, two days after he was found dead.

None of the police departments where Capparelli worked as a priest in New Jersey have been contacted by Nevada investigators, nor were police in Newark, where he taught in 2013, and Bellville, where he lived until he moved to Henderson in 2016.

Many of Capparelli’s abusers cited similar tales of abuse that included moments where the priest asked boys to wrestle each other in Speedos while he photographed them.

In the mid-aughts, Capparelli taught math at Seton Hall University and reviews on “Rate My Professor” echoed his accuser’s allegations.

In one review written in November 2006, a student wrote Capparelli was the “worst math teacher ever.”

“He favors a selected few ‘male’ students giving them extra help and tells everyone else to pay for a tutor!” the reviewer wrote.

Another student pointed out in 2008 that students who want to get an A in the class just have to be picked to wrestle.

“Not only will you get an A for the semester, but you’ll be exempt from the final too,” the reviewer wrote. “He is a disgrace to the institution, as a teacher and a person.”