Erwin Mena, 59, has been misrepresenting himself as a Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles since the mid 1990s, according to police. Although Mena has been on archdiocese’s list of unauthorized priests and deacons since the list was first created in 2008, the pastor at St. Ignatius of Loyola, who ultimately reported Mena to the police, permitted Mena to celebrate at the church without asking for his credentials because the parish was in need of a substitute.
At a special meeting with LAPD investigators at St. Ignatius, parishioners claimed Mena hawked $25 CDs, and solicited between $500 and $1,000 per person for reservations on a trip to see Pope Francis that would never actually occur.