Pope Leo XIV recently accepted the resignation of a San Diego bishop who has been charged with embezzling over $200,000 from the church.Bishop Emanuel Shaleta stepped down from his post at Saint Peter’s Chaldean last month, the Vatican said in a bulletin Tuesday. Bishop Saad Hanna Sirop has replaced him in the interim.
Shaleta has been charged with eight counts of embezzlement, eight counts of money laundering, and an “aggravated white collar crime” enhancement related to $272,000 in missing funds from the church, according to NBC News, and pleaded not guilty to all charges during a court appearance Monday.
Authorities allege that Shaleta spent months pocketing $30,000 in monthly cash payments from a tenant and hid the crime by moving money from a church account that held funds to help the less fortunate into the church’s operations account.
Prosecutor Joel Madero alleged Shaleta “provided completely unreasonable tales of where that money was going,” when questioned about the transfers and could not provide proof of who he gave the money to or when he provided it.
Shaleta is due back in court next month.
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