BUFFALO (NY)
WGRZ-TV [Buffalo NY]
January 30, 2026
By Charlie Specht and Sean Mickey
The mishandling of sexual misconduct allegations against Fr. Robert Yetter is one of the things that brought down former Bishop Richard J. Malone in 2019.
Joe Cercone was silently watching that scandal. He says Yetter sexually abused him in 2015, when Cercone was 13 years old, during the sacrament of reconciliation or confession at St. Mary’s of Swormville Catholic Church.
“There was the traditional kind of wall, and as soon as he would hear my voice, he would say, ‘oh, Joe,’ and then he would make me move from that wall to sitting in front of him,” Cercone said in an interview this week. “But then, you know, when he starts moving his hand up my leg and, you know, and kissing me, it’s…it’s a lot.”
It is difficult for the 23-year-old to talk about it even now, 10 years later.
“That broke me as a child,” Cercone said.
But Cercone and his family came forward in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in downtown Buffalo on Tuesday to describe how Yetter, who died in 2021, used the sound-proof confessional the priest helped design to carry out his abuse.
“I never dropped my child off to be alone with Yetter,” said Caroline Cercone, Joe’s mother. “And it still happened to my child, and I was standing outside of the confessional 20 to 30 feet away with my other minor children, and he still did it.”
If someone like Yetter could abuse their son, the Cercones say the diocese’s child protection protocols and “safe environment” programs can be defeated by predators.
“We just never thought it would happen,” said Joe’s father, Justin Cercone. “There are supposed to be guard rails in place, and they’re not good enough.”
Justin Cercone said he was sexually abused by another boy who lived down the street when he was 10.
When he told his parents, “they kind of brushed it off,” Justin Cercone said. “It crushed me.”
Justin Cercone decided he needed to tell his son, Joe, about his own abuse.
“You want someone to hear you and it was important for me to share my story with Joe too, so that he didn’t feel alone in it,” Justin Cercone said.
As a result of the abuse by Yetter, Joe Cercone suffered from depression and at one point attempted suicide.
“I asked him why he didn’t tell me,” Caroline Cercone said. “And he said, ‘Mom, I was taught that he [the priest] was Jesus. He was God. And if God said I was a bad boy and had to take my penance, that’s what I did.’ That’s why these kids don’t say anything. They don’t understand the depth of the evil.”
But with the help of his family, Joe Cercone he spoke in court this week — part of a long journey toward healing and awareness.
“It’s not just me,” Cercone said. “I’m not the only one in this boat. I know there’s people still in this boat that haven’t said anything, and I encourage those people to say something because it is a weight lifted off your shoulders, not just emotionally, but physically.”
Cercone’s account calls into question the diocese’s narrative of child abuse as a problem that occurred decades ago. Diocese spokesperson Greg Tucker sent the following written statement when asked whether Yetter would be added to the diocese’s list of priests with substantiated abuse allegations.
“In general, the Diocese makes every effort to investigate any child abuse claim against a living priest who is in active ministry,” Tucker wrote. “When a confidential proof of claim is filed with the Bankruptcy Court and the accused priest is no longer in ministry because (a) the priest has already been removed from ministry or (b) the priest is deceased, the claim will nevertheless be forwarded to the Independent Review Board for investigation IF the attorneys who filed the claim request an investigation AND grant permission to use the confidential proof of claim.”
The trauma has caused the Cercone family to switch religions. They are now Lutheran, but they have a message for parents at St. Mary’s about pushing the diocese to keep children safe.
“I want them to turn and look at that confessional and say to themselves and their children, ‘That room is where a felony was committed against children and we helped build it,’” Caroline Cercone said. “And then I want you to sit and ask yourself, ‘What would Jesus do?’”