When ambulance personnel arrived last month at a traffic accident site in California, they found not only a priest who had a broken thigh, but also a bag of $ 18,000 that revealed a major scandal.
According to a statement issued by the diocese of Santa Rosa in northern San Francisco on Monday, stolen money from the parish was found in the car of Father Oscar Diaz at the time of the incident on June 17.
The parish has revealed that the investigation revealed "precedents of theft" with a total of over $ 95,000 of the looted money that the priest had been serving for 15 years.
"I deeply regret that such an order has happened and that the citizens who were sent to it have been damaged," Bishop Robert Vaza said in a statement.
Oscar Diaz, who painted a priest 25 years ago, told ambulance agents that the money in the bag was "part of his salary" but one of the hospital staff contacted the police, who also told the diocese, Bishop Vasa said.
Many bags containing cash were found in the priest's house, and Oscar Diaz is also believed to have sent checks to the diocese to his personal account, according to Bishop Vasa.
Diaz suspended his duties, but the diocesan does not intend to prosecute him because of the cost of judicial proceedings.
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