PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review
By Paul Peirce
Friday, Nov. 14, 2014
A Somerset County Roman Catholic priest accused of sexually abusing an orphaned boy in Honduras in 2009 will not be released from jail to await trial, a federal judge in Johnstown ruled Friday.
Judge Kim Gibson reversed a decision last week by U.S. Magistrate Keith Pesto that permitted the Rev. Joseph Maurizio Jr., 69, to await trial under home detention at his farm in Windber. Gibson ruled after hearing a federal agent testify Friday that investigators may have located two more alleged molestation victims in Honduras.
Maurizio is charged with engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places and possession of material depicting the sexual exploitation of a minor. A federal indictment accuses Maurizio of traveling to Honduras between Feb. 26 and March 13, 2009, to have sex with an underage boy.
Maurizio has pleaded not guilty. He has been held in the Cambria County Jail since Sept. 24.
The U.S. Attorney’s office was granted a stay following Pesto’s ruling Nov. 6, delaying Maurizio’s release so it could appeal.
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