ITALY
Wall Street Journal
By STACY MEICHTRY
Police arrested the chaplain of a Milan prison on Tuesday as part of an investigation by prosecutors into whether the cleric solicited sexual favors from immigrant inmates in exchange for basic goods such as toothpaste, according to the top prosecutor in the investigation.
Milan’s sexual crimes prosecutor Pietro Forno said he had placed Rev. Alberto Barin, the 51 year-old Roman Catholic chaplain of San Vittore prison, under investigation on suspicion of abuse of office and sexual violence.
Mr. Forno is seeking to determine whether Father Barin, who has not been charged, coerced six of San Vittorio’s male inmates to perform sex acts on him over the past four years in exchange for money and staples, such as toiletries and cigarettes.
In a statement, the Archdiocese of Milan, which has oversight of Father Barin, said it was “bewildered and pained” by the chaplain’s arrest and pledged to cooperate with the investigation.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.