Former Moorestown priest charged with sexual assault

A Diocese of Trenton priest who formerly served a year at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Moorestown was arrested Thursday on charges that he sexually assaulted a teenage boy in Trenton, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office said.

The Rev. Roman Nilo S. Apura, 67, is accused of masturbating the victim in a home in Trenton in late spring or early summer this year. A second incident occurred in June when Apura attempted to remove the same victim’s pants, the Prosecutor’s Office said.

Apura was arrested at 11 a.m. at his residence at St. Martha Parish in Point Pleasant, Ocean County, where he has served as pastor since July 2012. He was charged with one count of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, one count of third-degree aggravated sexual contact, and one count of fourth-degree attempt to commit criminal sexual contact and placed in the Mercer County Correction Center in Hopewell on $100,000 bail.

As conditions of his bail, Superior Court Judge Pedro J. Jimenez Jr. ordered Apura to surrender his passport and have no contact with the victim or any other children.

Prosecutors said detectives from the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office’s Special Victims Unit launched an investigation earlier this week after the Diocese of Trenton reported the allegations.

In a statement, the diocese said it learned of the allegation Monday and immediately contacted the Prosecutor’s Office. No other complaints have been received about Apura, the diocese said.

Prior to St. Martha, Apura served in the parishes of St. Joachim in Trenton, St. Agnes in Atlantic Highlands, St. Maximilian Kolbe in Toms River, Our Lady of Good Counsel in Moorestown, St. Ann in Keansburg, and St. Mary of the Assumption in Trenton.

Apura served at Our Lady of Good Counsel from 2004 to 2005, according to the diocese.

Bishop David M. O’Connell suspended Apura pending the outcome of the criminal investigation and recommendations from the Diocesan Review Board. The suspension prohibits him from celebrating Mass publicly, wearing priestly garb or presenting himself as a priest.

The diocese said it would continue to cooperate fully with the investigation and called on anyone with information about the case or Apura to call the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office or the Diocese of Trenton’s abuse hotline at 888-296-2965.

“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 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.”