FLORIDA
Orlando Sentinel
David Harris
Two pastors now working in the Orlando area were charged in Pennsylvania with child endangerment on Tuesday for allegedly allowing a man to work with children despite knowing he had a history of molesting kids, officials say.
Friar Giles Schinelli and Father Robert D’Aversa were in charge of assigning members of a Franciscan religious order to jobs in Western Pennsylvania between 1986 and 2010. A third pastor with no ties to Florida also was charged.
According to the complaints filed by the Pennsylvania state Attorney General, the pastors continued to let Brother Stephen Baker work at a high school where he had interactions with kids as an athletic trainer and teacher. More than 100 victims came forward to accuse Baker, who committed suicide in 2013 amid the allegations, of inappropriate conduct.
D’Aversa was the head pastor at St. Patrick’s church in Mt. Dora and Schinelli was the director at San Pedro Center, a Catholic retreat in Winter Park.
Both are placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, said the Diocese of Orlando. Their positions will be vacated, the diocese said.
The allegations left at least one St. Patrick’s church parishioner shocked.
“I don’t believe [D’Aversa] is capable of doing anything that’s not above board,” said Joan Koontz, 80, of Mt. Dora. “He seems to be a very good person, a very helpful person and a very saintly person.”
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