Emergency workers responding to a car crash in a
California town last month found a priest with a fractured hip and, much to their surprise, bags of cash he allegedly stole from the local parish.
The Diocese of Santa Rosa, north of San Francisco, said in a statement on Monday that $18,000 in church collections were found in Father Oscar Diaz's car at the time of the accident on June 17.
It added that further investigation revealed "a prolonged history of theft," with more than $95,000 stolen from parishes where the 56-year-old Diaz had served over the past 15 years.