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January 2, 2008

Scranton priest indicted on perjury charge in DeNaples probe

Father Joseph Sica, a priest within the Diocese of Scranton, was indicted on perjury charges this morning by a Dauphin County grand jury investigating Mount Airy Casino owner Louis DeNaples.

Dauphin County District Attorney Edward M. Marsico Jr. said Sica, a former associate pastor at St. Aloysius Church in Wilkes-Barre, misrepresented his relationship with organized crime boss Russell Bufalino.

The grand jury indictment says Sica had testified he only met Bufalino by chance and had no relationship with him. But the grand jury was presented with several photographs that showed Sica arm-in-arm with Bufalino, as well as letters Sica had written. In a 1982 letter to then Gov. Dick Thornburgh's wife, Sica referred to Bufalino as his friend.

Sica currently serves as chaplain at Mercy Hospital in Scranton and previously served in that capacity at the former Mercy Hospital in Wilkes-Barre. He is scheduled to be arraigned at 3:30 p.m. today in Dauphin County.   

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