PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
November 14, 2014 7:16 PM
By Torsten Ove / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A federal judge today reversed a decision by a magistrate to release a Johnstown-area priest charged with traveling to Honduras for sex with young boys and ordered him detained pending trial.
U.S. District Judge Kim Gibson said Rev. Joseph Maurizio, 69, will remain behind bars as a risk to flee and a danger to the community, the two standards that govern federal detention orders.
The ruling overturned an earlier decision by U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Pesto to release the priest as long his bank accounts were frozen and he was unable to access church funds.
Judge Pesto had kept Rev. Maurizio jailed, however, while the U.S. attorney’s office appealed the decision.
Prosecutors were especially concerned that Rev. Maurizio would use his money, the source of which remains unexplained, to flee the country.
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