A Somerset County priest was found guilty Tuesday of sexually abusing three orphan boys during trips to Honduras between 2004 and 2009.
After an eight-day trial in U.S. District Court in Johnstown, Joseph D. Maurizio Jr., 70, suspended pastor at Our Lady Queen of Angels in Central City, was convicted of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places, possession of child pornography and international money laundering.
The jury acquitted him on a fourth sex count involving one of the victims as well as two other counts of transferring money to Honduras for illicit purposes.
U.S. District Judge Kim Gibson set sentencing for Feb. 2.
The Justice Department said the priest was known as the “money man” who used cash from a charity he created to fund trips to the ProNino orphanage in rural Honduras, where he paid boys with money and candy for sex acts.
Rev. Maurizio's lawyer, Steven Passarello, had argued that the prosecution failed to prove its case and pointed out that the FBI had examined the same facts in 2009 without taking action. It was the Department of Homeland Security that pursued the case, arresting Rev. Maurizio a year ago.
Rev. Maurizio's defense received a boost last week when one of the three alleged victims, now 24, recanted on the stand and said he lied when he told investigators that Rev. Maurizio molested him.
The jury found Rev. Maurizio guilty of one count involving that victim when he was 14 but acquitted him on a second count from when he was 17.
Two other Honduran men testified that the priest plied them with cash and gifts in exchange for sex acts or for allowing him to photograph them nude.
The Justice Department said Rev. Maurizio's charity was the largest donor to ProNino, a nonprofit that ran the orphanage and related services for Honduran street children. Prosecutors said he used his money and power to gain unfettered access to the boys who lived there.
In a statement after the verdict, U.S. Attorney David Hickton said the jury's conviction "affirms the courage of these victims" and the "tenacity" of the investigators, although the FBI has not addressed why the case was not pursued further in 2009.
Torsten Ove: tove@post-gazette.com.
First Published: September 22, 2015, 9:09 p.m.
Updated: September 23, 2015, 3:35 a.m.
