Late priest named in Pittsburgh grand jury report may have taught at Potter Jr. High

According to reports from several news organizations, Ernest Paone, who taught social studies at James E. Potter Junior High School for 20 years, is alleged to be the same man who has been linked in a grand jury report detailing criminal sexual behavior within the Roman Catholic diocese in the Pittsburgh area.

The late Rev. Ernest C. Paone, who died in 2012, was named in the report that was released Tuesday which includes accusations of a cover-up that protected more than 300 priests accused of molesting as many as 1,000 victims.

"Father Paone was ordained in 1957, and spent nine years working in the Diocese of Pittsburgh. He spent 20 years in California teaching in the public school system, and performing his priestly duties in ministry of Hispanic people, and dividing his work with two different churches," according to a paid obituary published in the in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,

According to an alumni report published in 2008, the University of San Diego's alumni magazine reported that Paone was a graduate student in 1970 and later taught at Potter Jr. High School.

So far, there is no mention of Paone ever having served in an official capacity at Fallbrook area churches.

A call to the Fallbrook Elementary Unified School District was unanswered and the district has not publicly addressed the reports.

The Village News is working to confirm these reports and will update this story as soon as information is made available.

Jeff Pack can be reached at [email protected].