Father Piroli Trial Is Headed to Jury

Lawyers prepared Thursday to turn the collection-plate embezzlement trial of Father David Dean Piroli over to jurors, who are scheduled to deliberate next week on whether the Simi Valley priest stole $60,000 from two Ventura County churches.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Mary Peace and defense attorney Richard Beada rested their cases Wednesday after nearly six full weeks of testimony.

Piroli, 37, was arrested May 29, 1992, when police in Hollywood found him and a Mexican national, Israel Palacios, sitting in a church-owned car with $10,000 in small bills, collection envelopes and trace amounts of cocaine.

Peace has alleged that Piroli skimmed parishioners’ cash from the collections at Sacred Heart Church in Saticoy and St. Peter Claver Church in Simi Valley to support a cocaine habit and to buy airline tickets, travelers’ checks and other items for Palacios.

During the trial, Piroli took the stand to testify that he never took money from the parishes where he served as assistant pastor and that he never used cocaine.

Instead, Beada has said he will argue that the money could have been planted in Piroli’s bedroom and office at St. Peter Claver by other church employees, particularly by James McKeon, the pastor there. McKeon has declined to comment on the countercharge, but the Catholic archdiocese of Los Angeles has vehemently denied the accusation.

On Thursday, the lawyers completed instructions that will be read to the jury describing the two counts of grand theft Piroli faces. Piroli remains free on $100,000 bail that was posted by some of his former parishioners.

Closing arguments are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Monday in Courtroom 46 at the Ventura County Courthouse in Ventura.