Alleged phony priest arrested for pope-trip swindle

An alleged conman has been arrested in Los Angeles after police and the Catholic Church say that he posed as a priest for more than 25 years, celebrating weddings and even administering at funerals before his capture this week.

Erwin Mena, who often went by “Padre Erwin” despite being on a blacklist of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and surrounding dioceses, was arrested by L.A. police detectives Tuesday, the L.A. Times reported.

Archdioceses have procedures in place to prevent imposters, and in Los Angeles the archdiocese keeps a list of rogue priests and deacons, which numbers more than 95 people, according to the LA Times. According to the Associated Press, Mena shown up at parishes and prayer groups in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Stockton, Fresno and Orange counties.

Mena is accused of a variety of offenses, though the biggest purported scam involved allegedly taking between $500 and $1,000 from parishioners who were interested in going to NY and Philadelphia to see Pope Francis previous year.

Over several years, Mena visited several Catholic parishes and represented himself as a priest.

She told the Los Angeles Times: ‘It was a great deal for the price. “We’ll see the Pope and it will be a great experience, ‘” said Rodriguez.

“He used us, he stole from us, and that’s it”, she said. “We are grateful to the Los Angeles Police Department for working to ensure that Erwin Mena was brought to justice”. But those who signed up for the trip told the Times that their interactions with Mena became increasingly suspicious as he urged them to have patience with the details of the trips.

‘We had always been raised not to question authority figures.

An organisation loaned him $16,000 to record and produce CDs about Pope Francis, Guevara said. “He’s a priest – what he said is holy writ. We never imagined he was a phony”.

Mena’s arraignment was postponed until February 24.

He was charged on counts of falsifying a public document, perjury and multiple counts of grand theft. Whenever the archdiocese found out about Mena’s activities, he would disappear.