‘Like being violated again’

LI priest-molest accuser: Church hired private eye to ‘dirty my name’

A middle-aged man claims that a Long Island Catholic priest sexually abused him when he was a teen — and that a church investigator is now trying to intimidate him into silence, new court papers allege.

Greg Hein, 52, had charged in a Nassau County lawsuit that the Rev. Gregory Cappuccino repeatedly molested him in the sacristy and rectory of St. Anthony of Padua in Rockville Centre in 1984, when the priest oversaw the parish’s youth programs. Hein was 17 at the time.

Then, in May 2019, several months after the lawsuit was filed, Hein was contacted by an ex-roommate who had attended drug rehab with him in Florida.

“He said he got a call from an investigator asking about the abuse and whether I’d ever discussed it with him,” Hein said of his unidentified friend.

The investigator told the pal that he had been hired by the church to probe the alleged abuse victim’s claims, Hein said.

“I felt like I was being violated again,” Hein told The Post. “How they got [his] information is just beyond me.”

He added that he hadn’t discussed the alleged abuse with his ex-roommate and was embarrassed that the investigator had revealed it to the man.

“Here they are exposing me,” Hein said. “I feel like they’re trying to dirty my name and intimidate me.” He said he now fears that the investigator has called other friends and relatives.

Hein’s lawyer recently submitted an emergency motion demanding that the investigator disclose how he obtained the rehab roommate’s information, which should have been protected by privacy laws.

The lawyer, Thomas Giuffra, alleges that the Diocese of Rockville Centre has a long history of engaging in deception and intimidation to silence victims.

A scathing 2003 Suffolk County grand-jury investigation documented dozens of abuse allegations against Long Island pastors and priests, and concluded that the Diocese of Rockville Centre was incapable of policing itself.

Hein’s suit is one of at least 44 filed against the diocese after the passage of the state Child Victims Act in January 2019.

“What I went through was a nightmare. It really rocked me,” Hein said. “I want an apology, some sort of acknowledgment.”

Diocesan spokesman Sean Dolan told The Post, “The Diocese of Rockville Centre takes seriously and investigates every claim of sexual abuse, regardless of how old the accusation may be.

“However, we do not comment on ongoing litigation.”

He would not say if Cappuccino still works around kids or whether there are any other allegations of abuse involving him.

Neither Cappuccino nor the investigator responded to requests for comment.