Father Riccardo Seppia, a 51-year-old parish priest in the village of Sastri Ponente, near Genoa, was arrested last Friday, May 13, on pedophilia and drug charges. Investigators say that in tapped mobile-phone conversations, Seppia asked a Moroccan drug dealer to arrange sexual encounters with young and vulnerable boys. “I do not want 16-year-old boys but younger. Fourteen-year-olds are O.K. Look for needy boys who have family issues,” he allegedly said. Genoa Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco, who is the head of the Italian Bishops Conference, had been working with Benedict to establish a tough new worldwide policy, released this week, on how bishops should handle accusations of priestly sex abuse.
Genoa, 16 Oct (AKI) - Prosecutors in Italy's northern port city of Genoa were Monday due to question local priest Riccardo Seppia, who the Catholic church suspended over the weekend after his arrest on paedophilia and drugs charges.
Fifty-year-old Seppia was detained for “immoral behaviour with a minor and the use of of stupefying substances”, according to a Genoa curia statement.
Investigators opted to arrest Seppia on Saturday following surveillance of his mobile phone and obscene text messages allegedly sent to teenage boys, including a 15-year-old with whom he had arranged a sexual encounter later that day. Investigators believe Seppia abused "at least five" male youngsters in his parish.
"You're right. He's gorgeous and I'm going to f*** him," read one of Seppia's text messages, according to investigators cited by Italian daily La Repubblica. They had been tapping his phone for months as part of a Milan-based drug trafficking probe from which it appears Seppia may have been a regular client of one of the cocaine traffickers under surveillance.
Investigators did not state who the recipient of the text message was but a 40-year-old former trainee priest is being investigated in the probe for procuring boys for Seppia and other clients.
In tapped mobile phone conversations investigators say they heard Seppia propositioning another under-age youth in exchange for 50 euros and offering an 18-year-old cocaine.
Seppia's habit of frequenting local gay bars late in the evening gained him the nickname "the priest of the night" according to parishioners. One was cited by La Repubblica as saying she had sent her children to another parish for catechism classes when Seppia arrived at the church.
