NEW JERSEY
The Jersey Journal
By Ron Zeitlinger/The Jersey Journal
on December 02, 2013
A former St. Aloysius priest who sexually molested a 17-year-old boy in the early 1980s appears headed for trial in Missouri on similar charges, according to a published report.
Gerald “Gerry” Howard, whose name was Carmine Sita when he was a priest at St. Aloysius in Jersey City, is seeking a non-jury trial that could begin after the start of the new year, connectmidmissouri.com reported.
In 1982 Sita pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a minor in Jersey City. In January 1983, Sita was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to undergo treatment.
After getting treatment in New Mexico, Sita legally changed his name and joined Ss. Peter and Paul in Boonville, Mo. Authorities say he sexually assaulted three minors there between 1984 and 1987.
In 2009, a Virginia man who accused Howard of abuse received a $600,000 settlement from church officials in Jefferson City and Newark, New Jersey.
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