ARIZONA
Case Grande Dispatch
The attorney for a Casa Grande man accused of two counts of sexual abuse has asked that the two cases be severed.
Tempe attorney J. Scott Halverson filed a motion to sever the two charges against Florentino Tarango. Tarango was charged in connection with incidents related to his position as a deacon at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church.
In his Feb. 21 motion, Halverson wrote that the two counts should be separated because one incident is alleged to have occurred in the fall of 2009 and the second allegedly occurred in May 2013. And, he wrote, the 2009 incident wasn’t reported to police until after the 2013 incident had been reported.
Tarango has a right to sever, Halverson wrote, because evidence from the 2009 allegation would not be admissible in the trial of the 2013 alleged incident if the first offense had been reported earlier and a trial held.
The Pinal County Attorney’s Office responded in another motion, asking that the judge deny the motion to sever the cases.
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