PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
By Liz Zemba
Saturday, Aug. 22, 2015
The attorney for a Somerset County priest accused of traveling to Central and South America to have sex with orphaned boys doesn’t want jurors to hear from a psychologist who treats sexually abused children and sex offenders.
The Rev. Joseph D. Maurizio has been held in the Cambria County jail on a federal detainer since Sept. 25, when he was arrested on a grand jury’s allegations he visited a Honduran orphanage under the guise of performing charity work but really wanted to have sex with boys.
His trial, expected to last at least three weeks, is set to begin Sept. 8 in U.S. District Court in Johnstown.
In pretrial motions, Maurizio’s attorney, Steven Passarello of Altoona, has asked Judge Kim R. Gibson to bar federal prosecutor Amy E. Larson from calling clinical psychologist Veronique Nicole Valliere of Fogelsville to testify.
Valliere did not interview any of the alleged victims. Passarello contends she will be called to testify in general regarding Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome, or CSAAS. He said the syndrome purports to identify common behaviors of child sex-abuse victims, including secrecy, delayed disclosure and retraction.
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