Ordained: 1972
Status: Convicted
Died: 02/29/2016
Diocese: Diocese of Metuchen NJ
In 2000, Fr. John Banko was removed from their ministry, and In 2002, they were convicted of molesting an 11-year-old boy (sentenced to 15 years in prison.) There were at least nine other alleged victims who were abused as young as age six. In September 2006, additional criminal charges were filed for abuse that occurred in 1994-1995. They pleaded not guilty in November 2006 but were convicted in 2008. Fr. John Banko was diagnosed as a “repetitive and compulsive sexual offender” and sentenced in September 2008 to an additional 18 years in prison. They died on February 29, 2016, at the New Jersey Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Woodbridge, NJ.
Fr. John Banko was included on the diocese’s list on February 13, 2019, and on the Baltimore archdiocese’s list, which notes sexual abuse alleged in 2002 by the person in the early 1970s while they were a seminarian at St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore. Fr. John Banko was also included in the Maryland Attorney General’s report on April 5, 2023.