PENNSYLVANIA
Citizens Voice
TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER, STAFF WRITER
Published: August 2, 2014
All charges against a suspended Diocese of Scranton priest accused of inappropriately touching a teenage girl were dismissed Friday.
Judge Michael Barrasse ruled the statute of limitations had expired on charges of indecent assault, corruption of a minor and criminal attempt at indecent assault against the Rev. Philip Altavilla.
Police charged the Rev. Altavilla, 48, former pastor at St. Patrick’s Parish in Scranton, in April after a woman came forward accusing him of indecently assaulting her in 1998.
The woman, then 13, claimed the priest gave her alcohol following a midnight service, then drove her home. Once in the car, he pulled her legs on his lap and began touching her feet and moving his hands up her leg.
Search warrants filed in the case revealed additional disturbing details as two city detectives said the Rev. Altavilla told them he searched the Internet for depictions of women being smothered with chloroform, strangled and sexually assaulted.
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