Mr. Mark Maroni
Diocese of Scranton
Employed: 1987-1994
Arrested: 1996
Died: 2018
Assigned as follows:
- St. Michael’s School for Boys (Falls Township, PA)
Summary of Sexual Abuse Allegations against Mr. Mark Maroni:
Mark Maroni was a teacher at St. Michael’s School for Boys, an institution run by the Diocese of Scranton for “troubled boys” in Falls Township, Pennsylvania. Judges often assigned problematic juveniles to live at the facility in lieu of more severe forms of incarceration.
According to media reports, in September 2018, a 12-year-old boy reported to school officials that Maroni molested him. Maroni was immediately fired and the allegation was reported to police investigators, but the case stalled as it was the boy’s word against Maroni’s.
A few years later, the first victim says, police called and told him that two more boys from St. Michael’s had come forward to report they too had been molested. Maroni was arrested for abusing all three.
Maroni was convicted in October 1996 in Wyoming County Court of multiple counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, corruption of minors and endangering the welfare of children for sexually abusing the three boys at St. Michael’s School between December 1992 and February 1994.
Maroni was sentenced to 30- to 60-years in prison for molesting the three boys.
When the Diocese of Scranton released its list of priests and lay employees credibly accused of sexual abuse in August 2018, Maroni’s name was not on it. According to the Diocese, it was a complete disclosure of anyone “credibly accused” of abuse. To meet that internal standard, an allegation must be “corroborated by secular legal proceedings, canon law proceedings, self-admission by the individual, and/or other evidence.”
When pressed by media for the reasons that his name was omitted despite a criminal conviction (secular legal proceeding) and guilty plea (admission), the Diocese of Scranton eventually amended the list to include Maroni.
Maroni died of cancer in prison in August 2018, around the time the Diocese of Scranton released its original list of accused individuals. He was 55.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Diocese of Scranton. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused by a priest in Pennsylvania, contact our office today. Although many years have passed, those abused by Catholic clergy in the Diocese of Scranton may have legal options, but filing deadlines will apply so do not delay in reaching out to us. Our lawyers have decades of experience representing survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Pennsylvania and nationwide. We can help.
Contact us at 888-283-9922 or [email protected] to discuss your options today.