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JOHNSTOWN – The federal jury deciding the fate of Somerset County priest Father Joseph D. Maurizio Jr. worked an 11-hour day Monday before adjourning for the night.
U.S. District Judge Kim R. Gibson allowed the jurors to return to their homes with instructions to be back in the Johnstown courthouse by 8:45 a.m. today to begin their work once again.
The task at hand is to decide if the 70-year-old priest sexually abused three Honduran children during trips to the ProNino orphanage in El Progreso, Honduras, from March 2004 to March 2009. Maurizio traveled to Honduras 13 times during that period.
He is charged with improperly photographing one of the children, and with using funds from an Altoona-based charity, Humanitarian Interfaith Ministries, to pay for sexual favors from the children.
The trial, which began two weeks ago, included testimony from the three alleged victims – one recanting his charges on the witness stand – and two other former ProNino residents who said they witnessed the abuse.
The defense, led by Altoona attorney Steven P. Passarello, denied the charges.
Monday’s proceedings included closing statements from Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Haines and Passarello.
They were followed by Gibson’s hourlong charge.
The jury of seven men and five women received the case at 2:35 p.m.
They jurors, eager to begin deliberations, after 30 minutes, asked one minor question of the judge: When was the evidence in the case going to be taken to the deliberation room?
Gibson said that was no problem, reporting to a packed courtroom the evidence was on its way as the jury’s question made its way to him in the courtroom.
With that, the jury settled into a quiet deliberation that ended only when the jurors said they wanted to break off talks for the night.
Under federal court rules, the prosecution presented its closing statement first, followed by the the defense closing. The statements concluded with a rebuttal by Haines.
“This trial was about the horrific things he did (to the children). He got away with all these crimes for a decade,” Haines told the jury.
She said Maurizio abused three children. One, at age 14, was described as “the perfect victim” because he came from the streets and was reticent and a loner. The second victim was 15 when the alleged abuse occurred. He was described as “shy and sensitive.”
The third victim, the young man who recanted, was “horrifically victimized” by Maurizio, according to Haines.
The fact he recanted on the witness stand last week was not a surprise, she said, because many abused children, when it comes to discussing their cases in open court, feel shame and embarrassment.
Passarello answered the prosecution, saying, “They did not prove my client guilty, let alone beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The defense argued to the jury that the children came forward with their stories during a time of turmoil at ProNino, a time when there was little supervision and a struggle for control.
Maurizio, he argued, was a major donor and annual visitor to ProNino, bringing clothes, gifts and chocolate. The priest, he said, wanted a say in the operation of the institution, and thus gained disfavor with the new ownership – a motive for turning the children against him.
He argued Maurizio was among the “good priests” of this world.
“He gave his life, his money, his blood, sweat and tears to pick them off the streets, to take them from drugs. He was there to help them, not hurt them,” he argued.
Much of the trial focused on the day of Feb. 27, 2009, when Maurizio asked for several children to help him move supplies throughout the expansive ProNino campus.
One boy said Maurizio improperly touched him. Two boys said they saw Maurizio sexually abusing a child in the chapel at ProNino.
Two of the boys also said they saw Maurizio engaged in a sexual liaison with the boy who eventually recanted after telling federal investigators about abuse he experienced from the priest.
The defense argued that the 2009 incidents became known to the FBI in 2010, and Passarello passionately related that the FBI closed the investigation because there was no evidence.
Haines responded that the FBI did not close the case. She said the FBI did not have a presence in Honduras. The FBI had offices in Nicaragua and El Salvador but had no way to investigate the crimes against the Honduran children.
Agent Molly Rock of the Department of Homeland Security in 2014 picked up on the case. Homeland security had a presence in Honduras, and agents were able to locate the young men allegedly involved.
Mirror Staff Writer Phil Ray is at 946-7468.