'Sex-abuse' priest arrested - update

(ANSA) - Brindisi, May 20 - Carabinieri police on Wednesday placed under house arrest a former parish priest in the Puglia city of Brindisi accused of sexually abusing two altar boys as young as 13.
    The alleged offenses date back to 2012, when the boys were not yet 14, and reportedly lasted through 2014. Father Giampiero Peschiulli, 73, was unmasked by a satirical TV show that specialises in stings, Le Iene (Reservoir Dogs).
    The boys' parents filed charges, after Giulio Golia, a reporter for the TV show, visited the parish on September 15. The priest barricaded himself inside and called the police.
    An online publication, Senza Colonne News, picked up the news, as did people on Facebook. Peschiulli left his post after the alleged abuse was unveiled in October.
    Wiretaps also support the accusations of sexual abuse. In one, the priest spoke to one of the minors involved, who explained his absence from the parish the preceding Saturday as being due to homework. "I understand, I understand. You betrayed me. I understand," Peschiulli said on the telephone.
    Later the priest added, "Yes. You - wait, what is the word - you seduced and betrayed me".
    The priest was implicated when one of the presumed victims told his story to a teacher his story.
    Carabinieri police said reports existed of other alleged sexual abuse by the priest going back as far as 2002, but can not be prosecuted due to the statute of limitations. A relative of one of the alleged victims, now an adult, said Peschiulli repeatedly groped the 10-year-old boy on his thighs and near his genitals.
    Legal documents seen by ANSA say that parents reported the priest to the bishop at the time, Monsignor Rocco Talucci, who "expressed astonishment" that the boys "had spoken at home about the abuse received, and had invited the victims of the sexual acts to not report the episode and to not speak about it to others".