ACCUSED
ACCUSED
Below is a list of the 12 living former clergy who served the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown and have been credibly accused of sexual misconduct with a minor, including their known parish affiliations, schools and organizations.
Robert Burns
St. Columba Cathedral
St. Paul Church, North Canton
St. Aquinas High School faculty
Diocesan Regional Board of Education for Trumbull and Ashtabula counties
St. Rose Church, Girard
Burns reportedly served in the Youngstown diocese from 1975 to 1981 when he was removed from ministry after a sexual-abuse complaint involving a young boy, according to filings in a 2002 lawsuit filed in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
In 1996, a New Hampshire court sentenced Burns to prison for luring and molesting two boys.
Thomas Crum
St. Columba Cathedral
Cardinal Mooney High School
St. James Church, Warren
St. John the Baptist Church, Campbell
St. Christine Church, Youngstown
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Youngstown
St. Charles Borromeo Church, Boardman
Immaculate Conception Church, Ravenna
Our Lady of Peace Church in Canton
Crum served in the diocese from 1975 to 2009 and was defrocked in 2010 after admitting to having sex with a student while teaching at Cardinal Mooney High School between 1975 and 1976.
The Rev. Anthony Michael Esposito
St. Aloysius Church, East Liverpool
St. Rose Church, Girard
YU Newman Club
Newman Apostolate
Columbiana Deanery of Priests
Richard Evritt
St. Columba Cathedral
St. Paul, Salem
Holy Family, Poland
Deacon Ernest Formichelli
Ordained in 2008 as a permanent deacon
St. Christine School
Cardinal Mooney High School deacon
Formichelli reportedly taught at the above schools between 1971 and 2013. In 2013, the Ohio Board of Education revoked Formichelli’s teaching license after two people came forward with abuse complaints.
Father John Hammer
Church of St. Mary in Alma, Mich.
Mount St. Joseph Church in St. Louis, Mich.
St. Louis Parish in Louisville in Stark County
St. Aloysius Parish in East Liverpool in Columbiana County
Hammer was removed from ministry after an abuse complaint surfaced in 2002, after he was transferred from the Youngstown diocese to the Diocese of Saginaw, Mich. The complainant claimed he was abused by Hammer while Hammer was serving at the St. Louis Parish. Hammer was removed from the Youngstown diocese in 1985 after abuse allegations arose during his time at St. Aloysius Parish. The Michigan diocese has also named Hammer as an abusive priest.
Monsignor Robert P. Reidy
St. Columba Cathedral
St. Mary’s Church, Conneaut
St. Nicholas Church in Struthers
St. Peter Church, Canton
Navy chaplain for 26 years.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church of Niles.
Two Austintown brothers sued Reidy and the diocese in 2002, alleging Reidy repeatedly abused them during a three-year span in the 1960s and the diocese failed to report it to authorities. Reidy retired from the diocese in 2002.
Louis Santucci
St. Columba
St. James Church, Warren
St. Stephen, Niles
Theology faculty of St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Louisville
St. Joseph Parish, Suffield
Regina High School, Cincinnati
St. Barbara Parish, Massillon
St. Patrick Church, Kent
St. Catherine Church, Lake Milton
The Rev. William B. Smaltz
Attended St. Rose School, Girard; Immaculate Conception and St. Ann schools, Youngstown; Ursuline High School, Youngstown; St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa.; St. Mary’s Seminary, Cleveland
St. Mary Church, Massillon
St. Edward Church, Youngstown
Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, Austintown
St. Mary Home for the Aged
Walsh College, Canton
St. Anthony Parish, Canton
Westwood Rehabilitation Center, Boardman
John Warner
St. Patrick Church, Kent
St. Joseph Hospital in Warren, chaplain
Walsh College, chaplain
Stark County coordinator for pre-marriage seminar program
St. Peter Parish, Canton
St. Mary, Warren
St. Edward Parish, Youngstown
St. Juan of A.C. Church, Canton
St. Vincent DePaul Church, Vienna
Sts. Philip and James Parish, Canal Fulton
Warner, who moved to the Youngstown area in 1959, resigned in 2011 after allegations of his sexual misconduct with a minor more than 30 years prior.
Bernard (Gerald) Dupont
Order of preachers
St. Dominic Church
Dupont, who assumed the new name Bernard – as clergy who join religious orders may do, according to the diocese – was serving in the Youngstown diocese when an abuse allegation was made, according to the diocese.
Robert Castelucci
St. Rosalia, Greenfield, Pa
St. Joseph, Coraopolis, Pa
St. Martha, Groveton, Pa.
St. Patrick, Canonsburg, Pa
St. Mary Mt. Carmel, Braddock, Pa.
St. Lawrence, Hillsville, Pa
Castelucci was named in the recent Pennsylvania grand jury report on widespread sex abuse in the Catholic church. He allegedly had inappropriate sexual conduct with several minors throughout his active ministry in the Pittsburgh diocese from 1964 to 1994. He withdrew from active ministry in 2002, after years of self-imposed or administrative leave. He is one living former clergy member who did not serve in the Youngstown diocese, but resided within its limits.
OTHERS
Below is a list of 22 deceased former Catholic clergy and nonclergy who have been credibly accused of sexual misconduct with a minor while serving in the Youngstown diocese or living within its limits. Nine of them are diocesan priests who died before sexual-abuse allegations surfaced. The list includes the priests’ known parish affiliations, schools and organizations.
BROTHER STEPHEN BAKER
St. Michael’s Church, Windham
JFK High School, Warren
St. Francis Friary, Warren
Baker, a member of the Third Order Regular Franciscan Friars, taught at JFK High School in Warren from 1986 to 1991. The Youngstown Diocese reportedly reached a $900,000 settlement with Baker’s 28 alleged victims in 2016. A Pennsylvania grand jury report alleges Baker abused more than 100 children during his time as a coach at a Catholic high school in Johnstown, Pa. Baker killed himself in 2013 shortly after his sexual-abuse allegations were reported.
Anthony Cipola
Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh
Cipola, a Warren resident, reportedly became a priest in 1972, and six years later was charged with, but not convicted of, molesting a young boy. He was defrocked in 2002, after a case for his removal went to the Vatican’s highest court, which upheld his ban. In 2016, he died of a heart attack, causing his car to crash in Warren.
The Rev. Robert Hill
St. Stephen Parish, Niles
Ursuline High School faculty
Central Catholic High School faculty
St. Mary Parish, Massillon
St. Joseph Parish, Massillon
St. Mary Rectory, Massillon
Diocesan school board, dean of Ashtabula County
Assumption Parish, Geneva
In 1991, Hill was sentenced to two years in prison for paying a teenage boy for sex.
Joseph Bennett
St. Columba Cathedral
St. Charles Church, Boardman
Immaculate Conception Church, Youngstown
Mount Carmel, Ashtabula
St. Aloysius Church, East Liverpool
St. Nicholas Church, Struthers
St. Joseph, Canton
St. James Church
Regina Coeli, Alliance
St. Stephen Church, Niles
Sacred Heart of Mary Rectory, Harrisburg, Pa.
St. Andrew Parish, Kingsville
Assumption Parish, Geneva
John P. Cunningham
Ursuline High instructor
St. Rose, Girard
Lowellville Holy Rosary Church
St. Joseph Church, Alliance
Regina Coeli Parish, Alliance
St. Columba Cathedral
St. Paul’s, Salem
St. Paul, Canton
St. Aloysius Church, East Liverpool
Our Lady of Lourdes, East Palestine
St. Christine
St. Phillip and James Parish, Canal Fulton
St. Stephen Church, Niles
Gerald Curran
Chaplain Particular council of Youngstown
St. Vincent de Paul Society
St. Joseph Church, Suffield
Joseph Galganski
St. Mary’s, Warren
St. Columba Cathedral
St. Catherion Mission, Lake Milton
St. Mary Home for the Aged
St. Catherine Parish, Lake Milton
St. Joseph Church, Suffield
The Rev. James Fondriest
St. Columba Cathedral, Youngstown
St. Paul Parish, Salem
Immaculate Conception Church, Ravenna
St. Joseph Church, Alliance
St. Joseph Church, Ashtabula
St. Anthony Church, Canton
St. Joseph Church, Mantua
Henry Gallagher
Immaculate Conception Church
St. Ann
St. Joseph Church
John Gallagher
St. Columba Cathedral, Youngstown
St. Edward Church
Saint Barbara Church, Massillon
St. Patricks
Holy Family Church, Poland
The Rev. Paul Gubser
St. Patrick Church, Youngstown
Christ Our King, Warren
Immaculate Conception Parish, Ravenna
St. Paul Parish, Canton
Central Catholic High School faculty member
Our Lady of Perpetual Help, McDonald
St. Peter, Canton
St. John Church, Salineville
The Rev. Thomas Kelly
St. Columba Cathedral, Youngstown
St. Ambrose Church, Garrettsville
Mother of Sorrows Church, Ashtabula
St. Brendan Parish, Youngstown
St. Christine Church, Youngstown
John Lyons
St. Anne’s
St. Aloysius Church, East Liverpool
Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, Wickcliffe
Immaculate Conception Church, Wellsville
Our Lady of Perpetual Church, McDonald
St. Joseph Parish, Austintown
The Rev. Ronald Oser
Assumption of Blessed Virgin Parish, Geneva
Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, Youngstown
St. Nicholas Church, Struthers
St. Luke Parish, Youngstown
St. Patrick’s Church, Youngstown
Regina Coeli Church, Alliance
St. Jude Parish, Columbiana
Christ Our King, Warren
St. John the Baptist, Canton
St. Paul Church, North Canton
Diocesan religious board of education president
John Parillo
St. Joseph Church, Canton
Cardinal Mooney High School
Central Catholic
St. Mary Parish, Massillon
The Rev. Robert Sabatino
St. Patrick Church, Hubbard
Cardinal Mooney High School faculty
St. Charles, Youngstown
Ursuline High School principal
St. Joseph Parish, Maximo
Immaculate Conception Parish, Ravenna
The Rev. john Schmidt
St. Barbara Church, Massillon
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish, Ashtabula
Sacred Heart Church, Youngstown
St. Patrick Church, Youngstown
Our Lady of Peace, Canton
St. Joseph Parish, Massillon
St. George Parish, Lisbon
St. Ann Church, Sebring
The Rev. Francis Zapitelli
St. Rose Church, Girard
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, Geneva
John Ryan
James Hennessey Donald Marrokal
Congregation of clerics regular of the divine providence.
Giles Nealan
Order of St. Benedict
Sources: Dioceses of Youngstown and Saginaw, Mich., Office of the Pennsylvania Attorney General, Vindicator archives