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. 

In making his decision today, Judge Gibson noted that the criminal division of the IRS, which is investigating Rev. Maurizio's finances, has found that he has substantial amounts of money with no apparent source.

The judge said the priest also lied to a pre-trial services officer about his finances, saying his net worth was about $107,000 when it is really about $1 million.

Judge Gibson also said Rev. Maurizio remains a danger to the community because, while he is charged with illicit sex with only one minor in Honduras, federal agents have found evidence of a pattern of

molestation as the investigation continues. Just yesterday, the judge said, agents learned that police in Central City, where the priest's church is located, had received three reports in the last two years

that Rev. Maurizio had solicited children for sex.

The judge said there is "clear and convincing evidence" that no conditions of release would assure the safety of children in the area or Rev. Maurizio's appearance for his trial.

Rev. Maurizio has been suspended from his church, Our Lady Queen of Angels.

First Published: November 15, 2014, 12:16 a.m.