“Toronto priest accused of sex assaults in church, funeral home” & related articles

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Sun News (sunnewsnetwork.ca)

3:50 pm, October 16th, 2013

Toronto priest accused of sex assaults in church, funeral home

Toronto Police have laid more sex charges against a Reverend from a Scarborough church after he allegedly attacked a female parishioner earlier this month. Ioan Pop, 54, now faces a total of 8 sexual assault charges after more complainants came forward.

Credits: Terry Davidson/Toronto Sun/QMI Agency

CHRIS DOUCETTE | QMI AGENCY

TORONTO — An east-end priest, already accused of sexual assaults involving several female parishioners, now faces more charges after another five women came forward with complaints, police said Wednesday.

Some of the latest assaults allegedly occurred in a funeral home.

Rev. Ioan Pop, 54, of the All Saints Romanian Orthodox Church was slapped with an additional five counts of sexual assault on Tuesday, police said.

Pop now faces a total of 13 sexual assault charges and one count of forcible confinement.

“It is alleged that he sexually assaulted women either in church or in a funeral home,” police said of the new charges.

Pop, who is considered an influential man within Scarborough’s Romanian Orthodox community, was initially arrested Sept. 11 and charged with one count of sexual assault after a woman alleged she had been sexually assaulted at All Saints a week earlier.

“While at the church, the reverend sexually assaulted the woman,” police said last month, referring to the Sept. 3 allegation.

Police said at the time that a couple entered the church and interrupted the assault.

But after police went public with the first charge Sept. 13, releasing Pop’s photo and warning of the possibility of other victims, another seven parishioners stepped forward with similar complaints.

“I think people came forward because they felt more comfortable,” Det.-Const. Teresa Curtis said upon revealing the new allegations Sept. 30.

After surrendering to police, Pop was charged with a further seven counts of sex assault and one count of forcible confinement.

Curtis said the second wave of accusations against Pop stem from allegations that occurred between 2005 and 2011 inside the church at 545 Danforth Rd., just east of Birchmount Rd., and also at homes in Toronto and Durham Region.

Those charges inspired the latest five women to launch complaints against the priest for assaults they claim happened in the church and an unnamed funeral home.

The church has yet to comment on the alleged sex abuse of its parishioners.

Police believe there may still be more victims.

Anyone with relevant information, or who believes they have been victimized by the accused, is urged to call the sex crimes unit at 416-808-7474 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477).

_________________________________

Priest’s new sex assault charges include alleged funeral home incidents

The Toronto Sun

First posted: | Updated:

By ,  Toronto Sun

Ioan Pop
All Saints Romanian Orthodox church Rev. Ioan Pop, 54, of Toronto, faces numerous sexual assault charges.

TORONTO – A Scarborough priest, already accused of inappropriate behaviour with numerous female parishioners, now faces more charges after another five women came forward with complaints, Toronto Police said Wednesday.

And the latest accusations involve some incidents that allegedly occurred in a funeral home.

Rev. Ioan Pop, of the All Saints Romanian Orthodox Church, was slapped with an additional five counts of sexual assault on Tuesday, police said.

The 54-year-old man now faces a total of 13 sexual assault charges and one count of forcible confinement.

“It is alleged that he sexually assaulted women either in church or in a funeral home,” police said of the new charges.

Pop, who is considered an influential man within Scarborough’s Romanian Orthodox community, was initially arrested Sept. 11 and charged with one count of sexual assault after a woman made an accusation she had been sexually assaulted at All Saints a week earlier.

“While at the church, the reverend sexually assaulted the woman,” police said last month, referring to the Sept. 3 incident.

Police said at the time that a couple had entered the church and interrupted the assault.

But after police went public with the first charge Sept. 13, releasing Pop’s photo and warning of the possibility of other victims, another seven parishioners stepped forward with similar complaints.

“I think people came forward because they felt more comfortable,” Det.-Const. Teresa Curtis, of the sex crimes unit, said upon revealing the new allegations Sept. 30.

After surrendering to police, the priest was charged with a further seven counts of sex assault and one count of forcible confinement.

Curtis said the second wave of accusations against Pop stem from incidents that occurred between 2005 and 2011 inside the church at 545 Danforth Rd., just east of Birchmount Rd., and also at homes in Toronto and Durham Region.

Those charges inspired the latest five women to launch complaints against the priest for incidents they claim happened in the church and an unnamed funeral home.

The church has yet to comment on the alleged sex abuse of its parishioners.

Police believe there may still be more victims.

Anyone with relevant information, or who believes they have been victimized by the accused, is urged to call the sex crimes unit at 416-808-7474 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477).

_____________________________

Scarborough Priest faces new sex assault charges

Newstalk 1010 (Toronto)

Posted By: Newstalk 1010 · 10/16/2013 11:10:00 AM

A Scarborough priest is facing new charges of sexual assault.

54 year old Ioan Pop is the priest at All Saints, a Romanian Orthodox church in the Birchmount and Danforth area.

He’d already been charged with one count of sexual assault after Toronto Police allege that an assault in progress was broken up by a couple who walked into the church.

On Wednesday, Police charged Pop with a further 5 counts of sexual assault and one count of forcible confinement.

They claim the alleged assaults happened inside the church or a funeral home.

Cops think there could be more victims out there

________________________________________

Text of Toronto Police Service News Release

Toronto Police Service

News release

40 College  Street Toronto, ON M5G 2J3                www.torontopolice.on.ca

Sexual Assault Alert

Update

Ioan Pop, 54, faces five additional sexual assault charges

Police believe there may be more victims

Photo re-released

Broadcast time:11:03

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Sex Crimes Unit

416-808-7474

On Monday, September 30, 2013, the Toronto Police Service’s Sex Crimes Unit held a news

conference and issued a news release regarding additional charges being laid in a sexual

assault investigation.

On that date, Ioan Pop, 54, was charged with seven additional counts of sexual assault and

one count of forcible confinement.

See previous release.

On Tuesday, October 15, 2013, Ioan Pop was additionally charged with:

1) five counts of sexual assault

It is alleged that:

– he sexually assaulted women either in church or in a funeral home.

Police believe there may be more victims.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-7474, Crime Stoppers

anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), online at www.222tips.com, text TOR and your

message to CRIMES (274637), or Leave A Tip on Facebook. Download the free Crime

Stoppers Mobile App on iTunes, Google Play or Blackberry App World.

Constable Sarah Diamond, Corporate Communications, for Detective Constable Teresa

Curtis, Sex Crimes Unit

8 Responses to “Toronto priest accused of sex assaults in church, funeral home” & related articles

  1. Sylvia says:

    This priest is a priest of the Romanian Orthodox Church which is a church in communion with other Eastern Orthodox churches, not the Roman Catholic Church.

  2. MikeyK says:

    What has this guy got to do with “blogging the sex abuse scandal and betrayals of trust in the Roman Catholic Church in Canada”? This website ic complicated enough without conflating Romanian Orthodox with Roman Catholic. If your aim is to include all clerical abuse everywhere, say so and change the motto of this website.

    • Sylvia says:

      I assure you MikeyK that I have no intention of including all sexual abuse. If I had the time and understanding of the operation of various other churches and institutions I just might. I have had requests to do just that but I truly do have my hands full with the Roman Catholic scandal. However, that does not mean I turn a blind eye to what is happening ‘out of the Church’ both here in Canada and abroad, nor that I do not have a heart for the pain suffered by ALL victims.

      If you scroll down you will see that I posted articles about him 13 September 2013. You will also find, amongst other times “of interest,” an article or two about the Boy Scouts, Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh, and the Archbishop pf the Orthodox Church in America.

      We have a lot to learn about betrayals of trust, child sex abuse and sexual predators. These are high profile cases – The names of those accused in these cases are not listed with those of the Accused.

      I also cover cases of Roman Catholic clerical sexual abuse from around the world. Sylvia’s Site is about the scandal and betrayals of trust in Canada, but I post articles from around the world. I believe we can and must learn from what is happening around us in order to protect our children, and to recognize that most predators are manipulators who invariably abuse positions of respect and authority to satiate their lust, and that the large percentage of sexual predators do not sport horns.

    • PJ says:

      Wow…got yer knickers in a knot??

  3. Bianca Stoian says:

    Does anyone know any update about Ioan Pop? was he accused? what’s the verdict?

    • Sylvia says:

      He was charged Blanca so the charges should be winding their way through the courts. In Ontario it usually takes a minimum of one year for charges to go to trial or the defendant to enter a guilty plea – often it is more like 18 months to two years.

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