HARRISBURG — A Roman Catholic priest was arrested on perjury charges Wednesday, accused of lying about his relationship with a mobster in testimony to a grand jury investigating a casino owner's possible ties to organized crime.

The Rev. Joseph Sica, 52, was arrested outside his home in Scranton on Wednesday morning and taken to Harrisburg, where he was released on $20,000 unsecured bail after a brief court hearing.

Sica is a friend of Louis DeNaples, who owns the Mount Airy Casino Resort in northeastern Pennsylvania.

The priest's arrest is the first to result from the grand jury probe, which is focused on whether DeNaples misled the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board when he said he had no connections to organized crime.

Sica, the chaplain at a Scranton hospital, is accused of lying to the grand jury on Aug. 29 about his relationship with the late Russell Bufalino, an organized crime boss who served lengthy prison terms in the 1970s and '80s and died in the 1990s.