SIMI VALLEY : Priest’s Suit Against Lawyer Is Settled

A Simi Valley priest once accused of stealing more than $50,000 from his former parishes has settled a defamation lawsuit against an Oxnard lawyer who the priest says damaged his reputation.

Father David Dean Piroli was acquitted in March, 1994, of embezzling money from his parish in Saticoy, and the same jury deadlocked 9 to 3 in favor of acquitting him of embezzling from his parish in Simi Valley. The Simi Valley case was dropped. Piroli filed the defamation suit against David Patrick Callahan in April, 1994.

The suit centered on an interview in The Times with Callahan after Piroli was acquitted, in which the lawyer for the Los Angeles Archdiocese was quoted as saying: “It’s very difficult to catch a thief who has a background in auditing and who knows if you steal cash it’s very hard to get caught.”