PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
By Liz Zemba
Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014
A federal grand jury has indicted a Somerset County priest on allegations he sexually exploited teenage boys at a Honduran orphanage and possessed child pornography.
The indictment against the Rev. Joseph Maurizio Jr., who was arrested on Sept. 25 on the same allegations, was handed down Tuesday. It charges Maurizio with engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places and possession of materiel depicting the sexual exploitation of a minor.
The indictment follows a series of earlier motions in which Maurizio’s attorney, Steven Passarello of Altoona, had sought his release, partially on the grounds the priest was not under indictment.
In a criminal complaint, federal officials said Maurizio, under the guise of doing relief work through a self-run charity, visited an orphanage in El Progreso, Honduras, at various times for a decade, promising candy and cash to orphaned boys to watch them shower, have sex or fondle them.
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