Chaldean bishop pleads not guilty to felony charges, as resignation announced

A Chaldean Catholic bishop in California pleaded not guilty to charges of embezzlement and money laundering, as the Vatican announced Pope Leo XIV had accepted his resignation in February.

Bishop Emanuel Shaleta of the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of St. Peter the Apostle in San Diego appeared at a March 9 arraignment hearing on 16 felony counts of financial crimes.

Prior to the hearing, he had spent four nights in the county jail, pending court approval of his release on $125,000 bail, which was granted at the hearing “with conditions including GPS monitoring and a prohibition on accessing the Church’s bank accounts,” the San Diego District Attorney’s office told OSV News.

Bishop Shaleta, whose passport has been seized, is due back in court for a preliminary hearing April 27, “with an estimated duration of one and a half days,” said the district attorney’s office.

If convicted on all charges, which represent financial losses exceeding $200,000, the bishop faces 15 years in state prison, the district attorney’s office said.

The district attorney’s office told OSV News that the bishop’s criminal complaint “is still sealed” and will be “unsealed at a future hearing.”

On March 10, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the U.S., announced that Pope Leo had accepted Bishop Shaleta’s resignation in February.

Cardinal Pierre also announced that Pope Leo had appointed Bishop Saad Sirop Hanna as apostolic administrator of the St. Peter eparchy. Bishop Sirop recently served as apostolic visitor for Chaldeans residing in Europe. He has also published a book about his 28-day abduction in 2006 by al-Qaida-linked terrorists.

The Chaldean Catholic Church is one of the 23 Eastern Catholic churches that, with the Roman Catholic Church, comprise the universal Church.

The priests of the St. Peter the Apostle Eparchy released a statement on the eparchy’s website, calling for prayer.

“After hearing all of the critics and attacks against our Eparchy and Bishop, we ask the Lord to protect our Eparchy and Bishop from all of the negative attacks,” they said. “We are in solidarity with our Eparchy and Bishop. We are awaiting the decision on this matter. Please continue to keep this Eparchy in your prayers and remain faithful to the salvific mission of Christ.”

The Eparchy of St. Peter the Apostle, which functions like a diocese, serves Chaldean and Assyrian Catholics in the Western United States and geographically includes the states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Oklahoma, New Mexico, North Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

According to NBC News, supporters of Bishop Shaleta packed the courtroom for his arraignment, spilling into the hallway, with some speaking to media and maintaining Bishop Shaleta’s innocence.

The 69-year-old bishop had been “contacted and detained” March 5 at San Diego’s international airport while “attempting to leave the country,” according to a statement issued that same day by the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office.

On March 4, The Pillar — which has posted several stories on the embattled bishop — reported Bishop Shaleta “was expected to travel to Rome,” having “submitted his resignation to the Vatican earlier this year.”

In its press release, the sheriff’s office said it had been contacted Aug. 19, 2025, by an unnamed representative of St. Peter Chaldean Church in El Cajon, Calif.

The individual had “provided a statement and documents showing potential embezzlement from the church,” and following an initial investigation, the case was investigated by the agency’s fraud unit, said the sheriff’s office.

The Chaldean Catholic Patriarchate issued a statement regarding the accusations against Bishop Shaleta, who was appointed to San Diego in 2017 after serving at the Chaldean Church’s eparchy in Toronto.

That message, shared on the website of the Michigan-based Chaldean Catholic Diocese of St. Thomas the Apostle, said that “some members” of the St. Peter eparchy had filed complaints against the bishop “in relation to the mishandling of certain diocesan funds and allegations of inappropriate relationships.”

“This information has circulated on social media platforms before all facts were fully clarified,” said the patriarchate, stressing that “allegations or complaints require careful and objective review and should not be resolved outside of the appropriate process.”

In addition, said the patriarchate, “The Apostolic See, with the knowledge and cooperation of the Patriarchate, has conducted thorough investigations in order to ascertain the facts and reach a just and impartial decision, so that no one may be wronged.”

The patriarchate added, “The situation has prompted a range of responses from those who devote themselves to the diocese. All perspectives are being taken seriously and require careful review, proper documentation, and time so that the truth may be fully and fairly discerned.”

In February, The Pillar reported that Bishop Shaleta had tendered his resignation in late January, following “a Vatican-ordered investigation into allegations of substantial embezzlement and personal misconduct.”

Among the accusations were claims he had taken “hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash from his cathedral, attempting to reimburse missing funds with checks signed by him from a cathedral charity account,” said The Pillar.

The outlet also said it had “reviewed financial records indicating that he ‘reimbursed’ his cathedral with checks from its own charity account, signed by him, after reportedly directing a parish tenant and others to make payments to the parish through him in cash, which went unaccounted for.”

Along with the financial misappropriations, Bishop Shaleta was “also accused of visiting regularly the Hong Kong Gentlemen’s Club in Tijuana, which operates as a brothel close to the U.S.-Mexican border,” said The Pillar.

Along with the alleged club visits, the report claimed Bishop Shaleta maintained a personal joint bank account with a woman who had been the parish secretary when the bishop was a Michigan pastor. Extended visits between the woman and the bishop in Toronto and in San Diego — to which the woman allegedly moved — were also noted.

Separately on March 10, the pope also accepted the resignation of Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako as the Chaldean Patriarch of Baghdad and leader of the Chaldean Catholic Church.

In a letter that same day, the cardinal said he had considered resigning two years ago when he was 75 but had been encouraged by Pope Francis to remain as patriarch. Cardinal Sako noted he plans to now dedicate himself to “prayer, writing and simple service” after years of leading the Chaldean Church under “extremely difficult circumstances and amid great challenges.”

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