PENNSYLVANIA
PennLive
By Matt Miller mmiller@pennlive.com
A former Catholic priest from Somerset County who was convicted of engaging in “sexual tourism” to molest poor orphans in Honduras has lost an appeal of his nearly 17-year prison sentence.
That defeat came this week when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit rejected Joseph D. Maurizio Jr.’s claims that he didn’t receive a fair trial.
Maurizio, now 72, has consistently denied abusing children he met through ProNino Honduras, a charitable organization he co-founded in 1999. ProNino received considerable financial support from Maurizio’s parishioners and others who donated to another charity he created, Honduras Interfaith Ministries.
The Maurizio case is just one of scores of sex-abuse allegations leveled at priests and other religious leaders in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown.
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