Credit: Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of St Peter the Apostle

A senior leader in the Chaldean Catholic Church was arrested Thursday at San Diego International Airport while allegedly attempting to board an international flight.

Bishop Emanuel Shaleta, head of a Chaldean Catholic church in El Cajon, California, was detained by deputies as he was reportedly trying to leave the country, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

The Chaldean Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church, with roots in ancient Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq).

Bishop Emanuel Hana Shaleta (Bishop Emanuel Shaleta) was born in Fishkabour-Zakho, Iraq.

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that Shaleta, 69, was arrested at the airport Thursday and booked into jail on suspicion of eight counts each of embezzlement and money laundering, along with an enhancement for aggravated white-collar crime. Authorities set bail at $125,000.

According to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office:

On August 19, 2025, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office was contacted by a representative from St. Peter Chaldean Church, which is located at 1627 Jamacha Way in Unincorporated El Cajon.

The church representative provided a statement and documents showing potential embezzlement from the church. Upon completion of the initial investigation, the case was forwarded to and investigated by the Sheriff’s Fraud Unit.

On Thursday, March 5, 2026, Bishop Emmanuel Shaleta was contacted and detained at the San Diego International Airport attempting to leave the country. He was arrested for eight counts of 508 PC – Embezzlement, eight counts of 186.10(a) PC – Money Laundering, and one count of 186.11(a)(1) PC – Aggravated White Collar Crime Enhancement.

Shaleta was transported and booked at the San Diego Central Jail for the aforementioned charges. He is currently being held on $125,000 bail and a hold under Penal Code section 1275.1 was approved by the court.

The arrest stems from an investigation launched by the San Diego County Sheriff’s Fraud Unit in August 2025, after church representatives reported potential financial irregularities.

Authorities allege that Shaleta misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars from St. Peter Chaldean Catholic Cathedral in El Cajon.

Documents reviewed by investigators indicate that rental payments for a church-owned property were directed to Shaleta in cash, which went unaccounted for, and he later attempted to reimburse the funds using checks from the cathedral’s charity account signed by himself. Estimates of the missing funds range from $427,000 to as much as $1 million.

More from The Pillar:

A private investigator’s report sent to the Vatican last year recounted allegations that the bishop had regularly visited Hong Kong Gentlemen’s Club in Tijuana, flagged by human rights journalists as “a brothel where trafficked women and girls are forced to work in the sex trade.”

That retired FBI special agent Wade Dudley told The Pillar that the bishop’s car had been observed “in a parking lot exclusively for patrons of Hong Kong, and we have seen him walking to the border and across the border, and we have seen him get picked up by a third-party ride share that exclusively takes customers to that establishment.”

The report also documented an unusual and longstanding situation in the bishop’s personal life.

Shaleta has held for years a joint personal bank account with a woman who was the parish secretary when Shaleta was a pastor in Michigan.

In 2025 the bank account’s balance was in excess of $40,000, and appeared to receive regular deposits from Shaleta.

When Shaleta became in 2015 the eparch for Chaldean Catholics in Canada, the woman “started making frequent visits to Toronto, staying either at a nearby hotel or at his house,” the private detective noted.

In 2017, Shaleta was appointed to lead the Chaldean Eparchy of Saint Peter the Apostle of San Diego.

The post Top Chaldean Catholic Church Leader Arrested at San Diego Airport While Allegedly Attempting to Flee on International Flight appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Caiden Stachowicz faces seven years in prison for setting fire to GOP Rep. Glenn Grothman’s office.

Caiden Stachowicz faces seven years in prison for setting fire to GOP Rep. Glenn Grothman’s office.

Stachowicz pleaded no contest to an arson charge in November.

Prosecutors dropped burglary and property damage counts in exchange for Stachowicz’s no contest plea.

According to police reports police saw Stachowicz standing near the office when they responded to a fire call.

Stachowicz admitted to setting the fire at the scene when the police arrived.

According to the AP, “He said he wanted to burn down the office because the federal government was shutting down TikTok in violation of his constitutional rights and peace was no longer an option.”

WBAY-TV reported on the young arsonist.

The post Wisconsin Man Sentenced to Seven Years in Prison for Setting Fire to Rep. Glenn Grothman’s Office – Blames TikTok Ban appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Crown Prince of Iran Reza Pahlavi says he has agreed to accept the role of Iran’s transitional leader.

Reza Pahlavi is the son of the Shah of Iran who fled the country when Ayatollah Khomeneini took control of the Islamic nation.

Reza Pahlavi released this statement earlier today.

Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi from Iran

The Islamic Republic has launched missiles at the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Jordan, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. It is targeting our Arab neighbors. These violations of their sovereignty are unacceptable, and we condemn them. But this is nothing new. This is who the Islamic Republic has always been, and this is why it must end.

For nearly five decades, this terrorist regime has sown chaos and bloodshed across our region. It propped up Assad, turning Syria into a graveyard. It planted Hezbollah as a state within a state in Lebanon. It armed the Houthis to destabilize the Arabian Peninsula. It empowered militias in Iraq to undermine Iraqi sovereignty. It attacked the economic hubs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

None of this has ever been the desire of the Iranian people, but rather that of a regime occupying our country. Now, however, the landscape has fundamentally shifted. Assad is gone. Hezbollah has been decimated. The regime’s military nuclear program has been set back. Its economy is in a freefall. The pillars of this regime’s aggression are crumbling. The Iranian people have paid the price in blood to reach this moment. The regime massacred tens of thousands of my compatriots in just two days, but it didn’t break the people.

Instead, the regime itself is breaking. Today, his History reminds us of our future potential. Before the revolution, Iran worked closely with Arab leaders, from King Faisal to Sheik Zahid to King Hussein to President Sadat. In Oman, my father helped Sultan Qabuz defend his country against insurgency. We were true partners then. We will be true partners again.

The Iranian people have called on me to lead the transition after the regime is gone. I have accepted that responsibility. Part of their great mandate to me is to return our nation and our foreign relations to normalcy. I will do exactly that.

My commitment is to ensure the transition is orderly, the country is stabilized, and Iranians determine their future through the ballot box. We will not repeat the mistakes of past transitions. We will avoid debaathification scenarios and maintain as many bureaucrats and public servants in transition as possible. Iranians have made their choice at an enormous price.

Now, I ask our friends in the Arab world to join us, to prepare to recognize and engage our transitional government. We will rebuild our nation not for expansion, but to serve the Iranian people. We will base our diplomatic relations not on exportation of ideology, but on mutual respect and shared interest.

We will reintegrate into the regional and global economy to increase prosperity for the citizens of all of our nations. Standing with the Iranian people is not charity. It is a strategic investment in making our region one of the most stable, secure, and prosperous in the world. Together, we can build a Middle East our children will be proud to inherit. Take this new path with us.

Since he left Iran as a young man, Reza’s goal has always been to return to the country his father ruled.

Via BRICS on X.

JUST IN: Exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi says he has accepted role as Iran's transitional leader. pic.twitter.com/JBZKzes9dE

— BRICS News (@BRICSinfo) March 6, 2026

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