Parishioners Testify They Feared Priest Was Stealing Funds

VENTURA — Father David Dean Piroli always insisted on handling the collection money at St. Peter Claver Church in Simi Valley, even at other priests’ Masses, according to testimony that led to his indictment on embezzlement charges.

The Ventura County Grand Jury transcript, released Wednesday, describes the events surrounding the discovery of a large cache of money found in Piroli’s car and bedroom after a Hollywood drug arrest in May.

And it reveals that parishioners, until his arrest, had dared not voice their strong suspicion that their assistant pastor had been stealing.

“One thing was obvious,” testified Lyle Hibbs, chairman of the St. Peter Claver finance council. “After every Mass, David Piroli would pick up the money . . . and go over to the priests’ house with it. . . . Without fail, even when he was on vacation.”

Piroli, 36, is awaiting a Nov. 2 trial on two counts of grand theft, accused of embezzling $60,000 in collection money from St. Peter Claver Church and from his previous parish, Sacred Heart Church in Saticoy.

The case came to light May 27 when Los Angeles police officers arrested Piroli outside a Sears store in Hollywood on suspicion of embezzlement and cocaine possession after they found traces of the drug and $10,000 in small bills stuffed under the seats and floor mats of his church-owned car.

LAPD Officer Ignacio Verduzco testified that Piroli looked “very wired, jittery, tense, strung out” as police asked him about the money.

He said the money was his, but denied owning the cocaine, Verduzco testified.

Los Angeles prosecutors said they did not press the drug charge because there was not enough cocaine to support the case, and declined to file an embezzlement charge because they believed that the collection envelopes from the Ventura County church put the case out of their jurisdiction.

Ventura County authorities picked up the case and brought Piroli before the grand jury.

Under questioning by Deputy Dist. Atty. Mary Peace, Piroli declined to answer questions about the cash, asserting his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination.

A church secretary and a housekeeper testified that they discovered thousands of dollars in small bills, plus collection envelopes in Piroli’s bedroom and closet shortly after his arrest.

Church staff members took the stash to the home of the church’s bookkeeper and stayed up until 2 a.m. counting it, they testified.

“We were all just in a state of shock,” testified Eileen Slavin, the secretary.

Meanwhile, Piroli, who was free on bail, had vanished, taking the church car, which was discovered by police in the parking lot of a Burbank medical facility.

He did not resurface until July 30 at the Mexican border--where authorities stopped him driving into California with two alleged illegal immigrants in the trunk of a newly purchased car--and turned him over to Ventura County authorities.

An audit by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles showed that donations at both churches dipped noticeably during Piroli’s tenure, testified auditor Sandra Smith.

Collections at St. Peter Claver, which averaged more than $53,000 a year before Piroli arrived on July 2, 1990, dropped to $44,331 in 1991 and to $25,395 in 1992, she testified. At Sacred Heart, donations dropped from $30,469 in fiscal year 1987 to $23,284 in 1988 and to $20,725 in 1989. Donations rose to $43,318 by 1991, the year after Piroli’s transfer, she said.