After a months-long investigation by the San Diego County Sheriff’s Fraud Unit, a high-ranking member of the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of St. Peter the Apostle of San Diego was arrested Thursday at the San Diego International Airport.
Bishop Emanuel Shaleta, 60, was taken into custody by San Diego Sheriff’s deputies as he was attempting to leave the country, officials announced in a news release issued Thursday, which went on to say that he faces eight counts of embezzlement, eight counts of money laundering, and an enhancement of “aggravated white collar crime.”
Investigators also said on Thursday that the case began when the sheriff’s office was contacted last August by somebody from the St. Peter Chaldean Church in unincorporated El Cajon. The church official gave investigators a “statement and documents showing potential embezzlement from the church. Upon completion of the initial investigation, the case was forwarded to and investigated by the sheriff’s fraud unit.”…