56-year-old Father Oscar Diaz stole more than $97 thousand USD from offerings in Northern California parishes where he was assigned at for the last couple of years.
The crime of Father Diaz came into light after he was involved in a car accident last month.
Father Oscar, a pastor at the Resurrection Roman Catholic Parish in Santa Rosa, alerted the authorities that there were a number of bags inside his vehicle that was full of cash on June 19, the date when he was involved in an accident.
Father Oscar Diaz said that the money bags were his salary.
The bags had more than $18,000 USD inside them.
The money bags were moved with Father Diaz to his emergency rooms, where an employee of the hospital alerted the local police.
An investigation was then launched after the police were informed about the money Diaz was carrying with him.
Further investigations revealed that Diaz had 15 more money bags that had a total of $77,000 in cash. The bags were seized from his car, office, and home.
The money bags were full of 100 dollar bills.
Investigations revealed that the money was taken from plate offerings from the months of June to September.
Authorities said that the priest admitted that he stole from the funds of the parishes in California where he was serving as a pastor.
Reports suggest Father Diaz stole money from Parish of St. Mary Immaculate in Lakeport and Our Lady Queen of Peace in Clearlake.
Bishop Robert F. Vasa confirmed that the police found $18,305.86 in the car of Father Diaz and an additional $77,000 in further searches.
In a letter from the diocese of Santa Rosa, Bishop Vasa said, “I am deeply grieved that this has happened and am deeply saddened that the parishes he was sent to serve have been harmed. The full extent of the theft is not known and may never be fully known but the Diocese is committed to determining as fully as possible the extent of the theft from each of these parishes.”
Bishop Vasa also revealed that ‘the protocols surrounding collection accounting would make it difficult to arrive at sufficient proof of theft to pursue criminal prosecution.’
No criminal charges have been filed against Father Diaz.