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Marcin Nurek, a recently ordained Catholic priest, was indicted on “criminal sexual contact and child endangerment charges.”
Press of Atlantic City reports:
A recently ordained Roman Catholic priest accused of groping a 13-year-old girl under her skirt last summer has been indicted on criminal sexual contact and child endangerment charges.
Morris County prosecutors say the Rev. Marcin Nurek touched the girl’s buttocks over her underwear and told her she was “sexy.” The indictment was recently handed up by a county grand jury.
The 37-year-old priest was put on administrative leave by the Diocese of Paterson following his Aug. 3 arrest. He is an emigrant from Poland and was ordained into the priesthood in July.
Nurek’s lawyer, William Ware, declined comment on the indictment on Monday.
In September 2017, the Daily Record reported:
A recently-ordained Catholic priest who is accused of fondling a 13-year-old girl’s buttocks under her skirt in Boonton rejected a plea offer of Pretrial Intervention, a special supervision program under which criminal charges are dismissed if all conditions are successfully met, the defense lawyer said Tuesday.
The Rev. Marcin A. Nurek – who was barred by the Diocese of Paterson from acting as a priest after he was arrested on Aug. 3 – appeared Tuesday with defense lawyer William Ware for a brief, pre-indictment conference before Superior Court Judge Stephen Taylor in Morristown.
Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Meg Rodriguez said the charges against Nurek — criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child — have been marked for presentation to a Morris County grand jury for possible indictment, the precursor to a criminal tria
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Nurek was released from the Morris County jail within a few days of his arrest, by order of a Superior Court judge. He is living at the diocese-owned Bethlehem Heritage in Chester Township and both Ware and Rodriguez said that Nurek has not violated any conditions of pretrial release.
After the hearing, Ware said that the Prosecutor’s Office offered Nurek the opportunity to be admitted into Pretrial Intervention to resolve the charges but he declined.
“He’s innocent,” Ware said.
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Nurek allegedly followed a group of girls down a street in the town of Boonton and then reached a hand under a 13-year-old’s skirt, and groped her buttocks over her underwear, stating either “You’re sexy,” or “Hey, sexy,” according to authorities.
Nurek was located shortly after the incident and, authorities said, made admissions to police. Police also secured surveillance camera images that allegedly show Nurek following the girls.
