PENNSYLVANIA
The Times-Tribune
BY DAVID SINGLETON (STAFF WRITER)Published: April 14, 2014
A Diocese of Scranton priest accused of inappropriately touching a teenge girl in 1998 after giving her alcohol told investigators he searches the Internet for depictions of women being strangled and sexually assaulted.
The information is contained in an application for a search warrant for the Rev. Philip Altavilla’s computer and cellphone filed by Scranton detectives with Magisterial District Judge John Pesota.
Father Altavilla was arrested April 3 on charges he provided alcohol to a 13-year-old girl after the Christmas Eve midnight Mass at St. Patrick’s Church in 1998 and then fondled her feet while giving her a ride home. He faces a preliminary hearing April 30.
In an affidavit supporting the search warrant application, investigators said Father Altavilla told them in an interview the day of his arrest that he struggled with a fetish involving feet, pantyhose, chloroform and strangulation.
He admitted he had taken photographs of the victim’s feet, as well as the feet of other teenage girls, and kept the pictures in a bag in his residence, the affidavit said.
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