SIMI VALLEY : Accounts of Accused Priest Are Frozen

A Ventura County judge has frozen a dozen bank accounts belonging to a Simi Valley priest who is accused of embezzling thousands of dollars in collection money from two churches where he was assistant pastor.

Municipal Judge Barry B. Klopfer ordered Father David D. Piroli’s accounts in six Southern California banks frozen after the county district attorney’s office said the Catholic priest’s accounts might contain stolen money.

“I believe it’s the church’s money, and it was taken from them,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Mary Peace said. “I don’t want all the money to be gone when it’s really the church’s money.”

Defense attorney Richard Beada called the order “standard government-type oppression,” but said it will not make a difference in Piroli’s ability to pay for his own defense.

The money will be held by the bank until Piroli’s case is resolved, then returned to the rightful owner--probably to Piroli if he is acquitted or to the churches if he is convicted, Peace said.

Piroli, 36, was indicted last month by the Ventura County grand jury on two counts of grand theft. The county grand jury indictment accused him of taking money from St. Peter Claver Church in Simi Valley and Sacred Heart Church in Saticoy.

He was arrested in Hollywood in May after police found him in a church car with a small amount of cocaine and $10,000 in small bills, plus church collection envelopes. Prosecutors did not press charges because there was not enough cocaine to support a case, officials said.

A search of his rooms at St. Peter Claver uncovered $50,000 additional in small bills and more collection envelopes, along with parishioners’ donation checks, authorities said.

After disappearing, Piroli was arrested again at the U. S.-Mexico border allegedly trying to smuggle two immigrants into California.

Two weeks ago, two women described as parishioners posted Piroli’s $100,000 bond by putting up $10,000 cash and one of their houses.

He is scheduled to go on trial in Ventura County Superior Court on Nov. 2.