NY priest charged with molesting Philly boy years ago
PHILADELPHIA — A Staten Island priest has been charged with molesting a Philadelphia boy from 1995 until 2002, beginning when the child was 10 years old.
The Rev. James Garisto, 73, who spent nearly 40 years as a priest, teacher, and school administrator in the Archdiocese of New York, was arrested Thursday and charged with endangering the welfare of children, corruption of minors, and indecent assault.
Garisto, who owned a home in Fishtown at the time of the assaults, is accused of attacking the child hundreds of times. He was released from police custody Thursday after posting 10% of his $75,000 bail.
The priest, who now lives in Harrisburg, is being represented by the Defender Association of Philadelphia, court records show. Efforts to reach him and his lawyer were unsuccessful Friday.
Garisto has been on leave from the New York Archdiocese since August 2019, when church officials received a report of sexual misconduct against him in an unrelated case, said Joseph Zwilling, archdiocese spokesperson, who declined to elaborate. While on leave, Garisto cannot function as a priest, present himself as a priest, celebrate sacraments, or wear clerical grab, Zwilling said.
The Philadelphia allegations mark the third time the priest has been accused of sexual misconduct. The alleged victim, now in his mid-30s, is married and works in the technology field, said his legal adviser, A.J. Thomson.
—The Philadelphia Inquirer
University mistakenly tells students they got scholarships
DETROIT — Oakland University mistakenly told roughly 5,500 prospective students that they had earned nearly full-tuition scholarships at the beginning of the month, school officials admitted, an error that is upsetting many families even more after a similar problem at Central Michigan University ended with a different outcome.
Oakland sent out emails to prospective students on Jan. 4, spokesman Brian Bierley told The Detroit News, informing them that "they were entitled to receive Oakland University’s Platinum Presidential Scholar Award, our highest award."
The scholarship is worth $12,000 a year, which covers most annual tuition costs at the school. To qualify, a student must have at least a 3.9 GPA and earn at least 1450 on the SAT or a 33 or higher on the ACT.
The total bill for such an offer over four years would cost the university $264 million. In comparison, last year, Oakland offered 223 Platinum Presidential Scholar Awards, or about $10.7 million for that specific award. Bierley said 47 of those students enrolled in the fall.
"Unfortunately, the students who received the message do not meet the eligibility requirements for this award, but have qualified for varying levels of OU scholarship awards," Bierley said. The emails went to everyone who had earned a scholarship not at the presidential level but who had not accepted their awards. Bierley said they were sent out "due to human error" from an OU staff member.
Oakland officials corrected the error "within two hours" and issued an additional apology email on Jan. 5, according to the university. No one was fired or lost their job because of the error, Bierley said, but school officials have "thoroughly reviewed the process that led to the error and have implemented corrective improvements to the process."
—The Detroit News
6 killed in high-speed crash in Florida
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Six people are dead after a 17-year-old driver who was speeding up State Road 7 just west of Delray Beach, Florida, on Thursday night slammed into a car full of people as he tried to overtake it.
Investigators with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office believe Noah Galle of Wellington was under the influence of alcohol and or drugs. His injuries were minor, according to a preliminary crash report.
The report says Galle was driving a 2019 BMW M5, speeding in the inside lane of northbound State Road 7 when he ran into the rear of a northbound 2018 Nissan Rouge driven in the inside lane by an unidentified woman.
The impact caused the Nissan to rotate clockwise off the road and into the center median where it flipped and and rolled over, landing upside down.
The BMW also rotated clockwise onto the eastern shoulder of southbound State Road 7.
Five people in the Nissan were pronounced dead at the scene. A sixth person was pronounced dead Delray Medical Center.
—South Florida Sun Sentinel
Pence, Trump ‘parted amicably’ last summer
Former president Donald Trump and Mike Pence have seen better days in their relationship.
The former vice president told “Fox News” host Jesse Waters Thursday that he and his former boss most recently spoke “last summer” and have since gone their separate ways.
“January 6 was difficult, it was a tragic day in the life of the nation,” Pence said of that date’s attack on the Capitol last year. “I know I did my duty under the Constitution of the United States.”
Pence was referring to the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, when Trump supporters hoping to stop the certification of the 2020 election clashed with law enforcement officers. Gallows were erected on Capitol Hill by Trump loyalists who chanted “Hang Mike Pence” after Trump complained his second-in-command would not help him overturn President Joe Biden’s electoral win.
“Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our county and our constitution,” Trump tweeted shortly before being banned from Twitter, which he used to falsely claim that the election wasn’t legitimate.
The vice president was taken to a safe location until law enforcement officials, with help from the National Guard, were able to regain control of Capitol Hill. Pence then returned to the Senate floor and famously said “Let’s get back to work,” and certified Biden’s victory.
“The president and I sat down on the days that followed that, we spoke about it, talked through it, we parted amicably,” Pence said.
—New York Daily News
