CALIFORNIA
NBC 4
[with video]
By Joel Grover
A Catholic priest was found guilty Friday in federal court of sexually assaulting a woman aboard a flight from Philadelphia to LAX.
A federal jury found Father Marcelo De Jesumaria, who is based out of Arrowhead, California, guilty of abusive sexual contact on the US Airways flight to Los Angeles last August.
The FBI told the NBC4 I-Team that a female passenger, identified in legal documents only as “BD,” woke up during the flight to find the priest’s “hands on her breast, groin, and buttocks.”
De Jesumaria had previously served in the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino, but was removed from the ministry in November when the allegations against him surfaced, the diocese said in an emailed statement. He is a member of the Chicago-based Congregation of the Resurrection, which will determine his future in the priesthood, the statement said.
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