Religious Institutions and Crime

Pope Francis accepted the resignation of San Diego Chaldean Bishop Emanuel Shaleta before the felony embezzlement case became public; Shaleta was arrested March 5 at San Diego International Airport with more than $9,000 and pleaded not guilty on March 10 to eight counts of embezzlement, eight counts of money laundering and an aggravated white‑collar enhancement. Prosecutors allege an eight‑month scheme in which parish rent payments were diverted to Shaleta with roughly $272,000 unaccounted for, requested GPS monitoring and $125,000 bail citing flight risk, and investigative reports have raised further allegations of larger misappropriations (estimated at $420,000 to $1 million), visits to a Tijuana brothel, and a shared bank account with a former parish secretary.