A Chaldean Catholic bishop has been arrested in San Diego and charged with embezzling Church funds.
The San Diego County Sheriff’s Office said Bishop Emanuel Shaleta was arrested on March 5 at San Diego International Airport as the prelate was “attempting to leave the country.”
The sheriff’s office said in a press release that the bishop was charged with multiple counts of embezzlement and money laundering as well as one count of “aggravated white collar crime enhancement.”
Records show Shaleta is being held on $125,000 bail on one of the embezzlement charges. All charges against the bishop are listed as felonies by the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff’s office said it had been contacted in August 2025 by a representative of St. Peter Chaldean Cathedral in El Cajon, California. The church member “provided a statement and documents showing potential embezzlement from the church,” which was then investigated by the sheriff’s fraud unit.
In remarks at a Mass on Feb. 22, Shaleta denied allegations he said were circulating on social media, describing them as a “mean and vicious media campaign.”
“I have never in my priestly life or episcopal life abused any penny of the Church money,” the prelate said. “On the contrary, I have done my best to preserve and manage the donations of the Church properly.”
Shaleta said that when confronted by a parishioner about allegedly missing money, he responded that he “gave it to the poor.”
The parishioner allegedly “gathered paperwork from the Church files without my [consent] and sent them to Rome,” the bishop said, adding that the Vatican “did an investigation about me without even notifying me.”
Shaleta has served at the San Diego Chaldean eparch since 2017. He was born in Iraq.
St. Peter Chaldean Cathedral and the eparchy did not immediately respond to requests for comment on March 6.
Update: This story was updated on March 6, 2026, with remarks Bishop Shaleta made at a liturgy on Feb. 22.
