PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
By Torsten Ove / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A federal jury today began deliberating in the case of a Somerset County priest accused of molesting orphans during mission trips in Honduras.
The Rev. Joseph Maurizio, 70, went on trial seven days ago in U.S. District Court in Johnstown.
The parties made their closing arguments this morning and the jury began deliberating at about 2:30.
Rev. Maurizio, the suspended pastor at Our Lady Queen of Angels in Central City, was arrested a year ago on charges of molesting three boys on trips to the ProNino orphanage between 2004 and 2009.
The Justice Department said the priest was known as the “money man” who used cash from a charity he created to fund trips to the orphanage and to pay boys for sex acts.
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