A D.C. councilman says he was the victim of a former clergyman charged with abuse in Virginia.
Scott Asalone, 63, of Asbury Park, N.J., was indicted for one felony county of carnal knowledge of a minor between 13 and 15 years old, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring announced Monday.
“This is the first criminal indictment stemming from our ongoing investigation with Virginia State Police into potential clergy abuse,” Herring said in a news release.
The abuse involved a former parishioner at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Purcellville in 1985 when Asalone was assigned, Herring said.
Asalone was taken into custody Saturday in New Jersey and faces extradition to Virginia, Herring said.
“The minor he assaulted was me,” D.C. Councilman David Grosso said in a statement.
Grosso said he went through intensive therapy in the 1990s and again after Virginia State Police contacted him several times in the past year after getting his internal file from the Catholic Diocese of Arlington.
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“I have been forced vividly to relive the tragic events of my childhood,” he said.
Grosso said the case influenced his decision not to run for another term.
“I greatly appreciate the work of Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, law enforcement officers and prosecutors,” he said.
