Church Refuses to Press Theft Charges Against Priest : Crime: Police found $60,000 in his car and apartment but archdiocese wants to hear his version of events. However, Father Piroli has disappeared.

Police said Tuesday that Catholic Church officials have refused to press theft charges against a Simi Valley priest in connection with the discovery of $60,000 cash in his apartment and a parish-owned car after a Hollywood drug arrest.

The staff of the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and St. Peter Claver Church in Simi Valley have ignored police pleas to press charges against Father David Piroli, said Lt. Richard Klamser of the Simi Valley Police Department.

Simi Valley police do not investigate property crimes against victims who refuse to press charges, Klamser said.

Even though church collection envelopes--some torn open--were found amid bundles of cash in Piroli’s rooms at the church, “we wanted to hear his side of the story first,” said Auxiliary Bishop G. Patrick Ziemann.

“It’s a possibility that the money could be his, and it’s also possible it could be the church’s,” said Ziemann, who oversees the archdiocese’s churches in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Cardinal Roger M. Mahony would have to make the final decision whether to press charges against one of his priests, Ziemann said.

Police from the Hollywood division of the Los Angeles Police Department arrested Piroli May 29 outside a Sears store after finding a small amount of cocaine in his car--not enough to warrant pressing charges for possession, said Los Angeles Deputy Dist. Atty. Norm Shapiro.

Police also found $10,000 in the car, and a further search of Piroli’s rooms at St. Peter Claver uncovered about $50,000 in small bills, including some church collection envelopes, Ziemann said.

Five days after the church’s pastor, Father James McKeon, bailed Piroli out of jail, Piroli disappeared, leaving the church to pay a bail bondsman $5,000 out of the $50,000 from Piroli’s apartment, Ziemann said.