HOLLIDAYSBURG (PA)
Altoona Mirror
October 24, 2017
By Kay Stephens
Kopriva concluded statute of limitations expired for Schinelli
Child endangerment and criminal conspiracy charges have been dismissed against one of the three Franciscan friars accused of failing to properly supervise Brother Stephen Baker, a suspected predator accused of molesting youth while working at a Johnstown Catholic high school.
In a ruling issued Monday, Blair County Judge Jolene G. Kopriva concluded that the state’s previous statute of limitations — requiring prosecution of sexual offenses against minors to be filed no later than two years after the minor turned 18 — would have expired in 2014 for friar Anthony “Giles” Schinelli, a former administrator for the Franciscan Friars of the Third Order Regular, Hollidayburg.
But due to a 2007 change in the statute extending the prosecution time frame to a minor’s 50th birthday, Kopriva concluded that friars Robert J. D’Aversa and Anthony J. Criscitelli, who succeeded Schinelli as ministers provincial, are subject to charges and their cases should move forward.
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