RIVERVIEW (FL)
Bradenton Patch
November 20, 2018
By Paul Scicchitano
A Florida Catholic church has informed its parishioners that a well-known former priest who once worked as a stunt car performer in an automotive thrill show, has been accused of two cases of sexual misconduct with children. The allegations involve the Rev. Michael P. Juran, who was most recently assigned to the Diocese of Buffalo in upstate New York though still living in Florida.
“On Monday, Nov. 5, 2018 we received information from the Diocese of St. Petersburg regarding allegations involving Rev. Michael P. Juran, a former parochial vicar of St. Stephen Catholic Church from 2006 to 2011,” wrote Father Dermot Dunne in a Nov. 8 letter to parishioners of his western Florida parish.
In 2008, Juran appeared in a video in which he described his work with the thrill show, even allowing himself to be strapped to the hood of a stunt car at 60 mph as he crashed through a flaming firewall on the track.
“The faster you go the better and then it doesn’t hurt as much,” Juran told an interviewer. “Right through the firewall and then you come back and you take your bow.”
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