Priest from Vaslui arrested for rape of 15-year-old teenager, suspect in other cases
A priest from Vaslui county has been detained after allegedly raping a 15-year-old teenager for three years. He is suspected in other cases of sexual assault, including against a 13-year-old girl.
Priest from Parpanița arrested for repeated sexual assault on minors
Jurnalul.ro reports that a priest from Parpanița, Vaslui county, has been arrested after allegedly raping a teenager for three years, who was 15 years old when the first offences occurred. Authorities also suspect him in other cases of sexual assault, including against a 13-year-old girl.
The offences allegedly took place at a social centre established by the priest near the church, where children from disadvantaged families came to receive homework help and a hot meal. The priest was known in the community by the name of "the angel of poor children".
Last week, during a sermon on his nameday—at which parishioners brought him a cake—he stated that he was "going through a more difficult period". A church employee told Observator that the priest had announced that starting on 18 he was taking leave and that he might travel to a friend in Germany. On Sunday, 18, another priest conducted the service in his place.
The Diocese of Huși responded officially. "He no longer has the right to conduct any church service. Depending on the development of the criminal investigation, other canonical measures will be applied," said Cosmin Gubernat, the institution's spokesperson.
The investigation began after the family of a 13-year-old girl filed a complaint with police, claiming that the priest had intoxicated the child and touched her in intimate areas. During the course of investigations, detectives identified a second victim: a teenager with whom the parish priest had allegedly begun an improper relationship when she was 15 years old.
The childcare assistant who looked after the second victim sent her to a placement centre after observing that the priest was calling her frequently to the social centre. "I heard that she came back, and she was not allowed to come here. She came here, to the parish house. Tell me yourself, what are you doing here if she was at the centre, I had sent her to the centre," the childcare assistant said.
Sources from the investigation confirm that the rapes allegedly took place within the social centre itself, a space which the priest administered and to which children had free access.
The case comes in the context of previous scandals which have shaken the Romanian Orthodox Church. Former priest Cristian Pomohaci is also under the attention of authorities, being investigated by DIICOT in a case involving child pornography.
Source: Jurnalul.ro