Father Kevin Gugliotta
Archdiocese of Newark
Ordained: 1996
Reinstated: 2004
Removed: 2017
Assigned as follows:
- Holy Spirit (Union, NJ)
- Immaculate Conception (Mahwah, NJ)
- Ramapo College (Mahwah, NJ)
- St. Bartholomew (Scotch Plains, NJ)
- St. Joseph (West Orange, NJ)
- St. Elizabeth (Wyckoff, NJ)
- St. Rose of Lima (Short Hills, NJ)
Summary of Abuse Allegations against Father Kevin Gugliotta:
According to media reports, in 2003, an adult male filed a complaint with the Archdiocese of Newark alleging that Father Kevin Gugliotta had sexually abused him as a 16-year-old boy in the mid-1980s. He was the victim’s Boy Scout leader. The Archdiocese suspended Father Gugliotta following the complaint.
In December 2004, Father Gugliotta was reinstated without restrictions, as the Archbishop of Newark, John Myers, felt that he could not be punished because the alleged abuse occurred before he became a priest in 1996. Additionally, he was not charged criminally due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. He continued in ministry for another 13 years until he was suspended again following a 2016 arrest.
Immediately after reinstating Father Gugliotta in 2004, Archbishop Myers assigned him to St. Bartholomew’s in Scotch Plains, where his duties included youth ministry. It is there that he is alleged to have at least two more victims.
In October 2016, Father Gugliotta was arrested for possession of child pornography at his weekend home in Pennsylvania. Per detectives, he uploaded from his computer 20 child pornography files to internet chat rooms. According to records, he told probation officers that he collected the pornography to get “revenge” on God for poker losses.
Father Gugliotta was removed from Holy Spirit in Union, New Jersey in October 2016 due to the investigation. He had been at the parish just a few weeks, after serving eight years at St. Bartholomew in Scotch Plains.
In March 2017 Father Gugliotta pleaded guilty to disseminating child pornography. In August 2017, he was sentenced to eleven and a half to twenty-three and a half months in prison. Additionally, hew was ordered to register as a sex offender and received five years probation. He was then permanently removed from the ministry.
In February 2019, Father Gugliotta’s name was listed on the Archdiocese of Newark’s published list of credibly accused priests, listing his victims as “multiple (child pornography).” No additional details were provided.
In March 2019, Father Gugliotta was accused in a lawsuit of the sexual abuse of an 11-year-old Scotch Plains boy in 2004. The abuse he allegedly inflicted on the victim spanned the boy’s high school years and included oral sex, fondling and masturbation. Father Gugliotta allegedly gave the boy alcohol and abused him both on church property and on overnight trips around the state. The boy’s mother said she knew Father Gugliotta well and encouraged her son to join his youth ministry because he was acting out. “I thought it was a good road for him” she said.
He was named in another lawsuit filed in April 2021. According to media reports, the lawsuit alleges that Father Gugliotta abused a 9-year-old altar boy at St. Bartholomew in 2006.
Father Gugliotta has been released from prison and is now residing in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He is a registered sex offender.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Archdiocese of Newark in New Jersey. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused in the Archdiocese of Newark, contact our office today. Although many years have passed, those abused by Catholic clergy in the Archdiocese of Newark now have legal options, but filing deadlines will apply so do not delay in reaching out to us. Our lawyers have decades of experience representing survivors of clergy sexual abuse in New Jersey and nationwide. We can help.
Contact us at 888-283-9922 or [email protected] to discuss your options today.