Warrant Issued for Priest Who Vanished After Arrest : Inquiry: Father David Piroli has not been charged, but authorities want to question him about money found after a drug bust.

An arrest warrant was issued Friday for a Simi Valley priest wanted for questioning about $60,000 that was found after his May drug arrest in Hollywood, a church official said.

G. Patrick Ziemann, auxiliary bishop for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, said he hopes that Father David Piroli will come forward and answer questions for Ventura County investigators and archdiocese officials.

“I hope that he knows . . . that we’re willing and eager to talk with him and eager to help him,” said Ziemann, who oversees the archdiocese’s churches in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

Ventura County Deputy Dist. Atty. Maeve J. Fox said prosecutors have not filed charges, but they want to question Piroli, 36, of St. Peter Claver Church, about the large amounts of cash and church collection envelopes that were found in his rooms and in his church car.

Piroli was arrested May 29 as he sat in the church’s 1990 Chevrolet Lumina outside the Sears store in Hollywood. Store employees had complained to police that Piroli was loitering.

Inside the car, police found traces of rock and powder cocaine in two matchboxes, but there was not enough to warrant prosecution.

Police also found about $10,000 in small bills. The money was turned over to the archdiocese, which is auditing the church’s books to find whether the cash came from parishioners’ donations.

Church employees who searched Piroli’s apartment after his arrest found another $50,000 in small bills scattered throughout the rooms--$5,000 of which they used to pay his bondsman when he disappeared June 3.

“At this point, we have not found anything to indicate he was selling narcotics,” Fox said. “It’s turning into more of a theft issue than a drug issue.”