Erwin Mena, who allegedly impersonated a Catholic priest (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)A particularly unholy fake priest allegedly swindled his flock out of tens of thousands of dollars.
Erwin Mena, 59, went by the name ‘Padre’ and did everything you’d expect of a man of the cloth – masses, weddings, funerals.
However, he’s now been accused of duping parishioners in LA with a string of money-making scams.
Among the allegations are that he sold them bogus tickets to see Pope
Francis in New York and Philadelphia last year, and he flogged a CD he
made – ‘Confessions of a Renegade Catholic Priest’.
Parishioners in Los Angeles were duped out of thousands (Picture: Getty Images)
But when church goers never actually got their trip to see the pope, they alerted the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
Church officials say Mena had been operating as a bogus priest since
the mid 1990s, and that his name was on a list of unauthorised priests
operating in the area.
Authorities believe he managed to pocket around $53,000 (£36,544) from the elaborate scheme.
Jose H. Gomez, the Archbishop of Los Angeles (Picture: Getty Images)
‘We are grateful to the Los Angeles Police Department for working to
ensure that Erwin Mena was brought to justice,’ the archdiocese said in a
statement. ‘Our prayers go out to all the victims of his scam.’
After appearing in court on Wednesday, Mena was ordered to be
detained in lieu of $100,000 bail. His arraignment – when the charges
will be formally put to him – is on February 24.
If convicted, Mena faces up to 21 years behind bars.
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