Former Moorestown Priest Accused Of Sexual Abuse of Teen

By Karen Wall

A priest at St. Martha’s Catholic Church in Point Pleasant has been charged with engaging in sexual contact with a teenage boy in Trenton earlier this year, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s office.

The Rev. Romannilo Apura, 67, was arrested at his residence at St. Martha Parish about 11 a.m. Thursday by detectives with the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Special Victims Unit, said Casey DeBlasio, spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office, in a news release.

Apura is accused of masturbating the teenage male victim in a home in Trenton on an occasion in the late spring/early summer of 2014. A second incident occurred in June 2014 when Apura attempted to remove the same victim’s pants, DeBlasio said.

Apura became the priest at St. Martha’s July 1, 2012, according to the Trenton Monitor, a publication of the Diocese of Trenton.

The Diocese released a statement saying it learned of the Trenton incident on Aug. 18.

“It is the only complaint that we have received about Father Apura, and it has no connection to St. Martha Parish in Point Pleasant, where he has been serving as pastor,” the statement said. “Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., has suspended Father Apura, effective immediately, pending the outcome of the investigation by law enforcement and recommendations from the Diocesan Review Board. This suspension prohibits Father Apura from celebrating Mass publicly, wearing priestly garb, or presenting himself as a priest.”

“Sexual abuse committed by anyone representing the Church is a sin against God and His people, and a betrayal of the trust placed in the Church by families,” the Diocese statement said. “ We reiterate our firm commitment to the safeguards and initiatives in place to keep our children safe, and we ask the faithful throughout the Diocese to pray for all who may have been harmed in this case.”

The release said Apura additionally has served in the parishes of St. Joachim, Trenton; St. Agnes, Atlantic Highlands; St. Maximilian Kolbe, Berkeley; Our Lady of Good Counsel, Moorestown; St. Ann Parish, Keansburg, and St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton.

Apura is charged with one count of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, one count of third-degree aggravated criminal sexual contact and one count of fourth-degree attempt to commit criminal sexual contact. He is being held at the Mercer County Correction Center in lieu of $100,000 cash or bond bail. As conditions of bail, Mercer County Superior Court Judge Pedro J. Jimenez Jr. ordered that Apura surrender his passport and have no contact with the victim or any other children, DeBlasio said.

Anyone with information on the case should contact the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office’s Special Victims Unit at (609) 989-6568.

There is no scheduled court date at this time.