A 29-year-old man suspected of breaking into a Santa Ana church with two others to pilfer a safe containing about $15,000 was taken into custody Friday. Daniel Cortes, who is believed to be the burglar who was wearing a White Sox cap in surveillance video from Forty Martyrs Armenian Church, was arrested after a short car chase, Santa Ana police said.

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An ex-doctor and minister who hawked a miracle cancer cure via a program on the Costa Mesa-based Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) was sentenced today to 14 years in federal prison because her "brown sludge'' was actually made of suntan lotion and beef flavoring. Besides TBN, Christine Daniel, 58, of Santa Clarita, also sold the phony cure through her "wellness center" with ever-changing names in Mission Hills.

In addition to the prison stretch, U.S. District Judge Robert J. Timlin, who remanded Daniel into custody following the four-hour hearing in Los Angeles, ordered her to forfeit nearly $1.2 million. When the then-licensed physician and ordained Pentecostal minister was arrested in LA in October 2009, she'd by then taken $1.1 million from 55 families over three years for her herbal "C-Extract." At least six patients died over a six-month period.

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In Washington D.C. today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) opened a probe of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), following reports that the IRS was unfairly targeting conservative non-profit groups affiliated with the Tea Party movement.

Closer to home, the California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), joined by a coalition of other civil rights groups, has petitioned the U.S. Department of Education (DOE), asking that the agency review how it investigates allegations of anti-Semitism at three college campuses: UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz and UC Irvine.

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Images pulled from surveillance video of men believed to have stolen safes containing thousands of dollars from a church and four other locations were released by the Santa Ana Police Department Tuesday.

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Tomorrow, the National Day of Prayer is scheduled to happen in Washington, D.C. featuring a who's who of homophobes, retrogrades, and flat-out liturgical losers. Yet the person who's gotten the attention of LGBT activists surprised that Christians don't like dem gays is Greg Laurie of Harvest Crusade.

Laurie is going to be more than just a holy roller: he's the honorary chairman of the Task Force and is scheduled to deliver a prayer at the Pentagon tomorrow morning

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You'll remember earlier this month my story about how Kenton Beshore of Mariners Church in Irvine has become an Aztlanista, much to the concern of his super-wealthy flock. With the amnesty talks in Congress currently backed up due to the Boston bombings, it'll be interesting if Beshore and his other OC evangelical leaders will continue to fight as hard for immigration reform as they did before.

That was the subject of my latest "Orange County Line" commentary for KCRW-FM 89.9.

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Few Christian congregations are more notorious in Orange County for forgetting Matthew 19:24 (you know, the whole camel thing where Jesus essentially says the rich are going to Hell) than Mariners Church in Irvine. That's the church where Reverend Kenton Beshore essentially makes excuses for Jesus' admonition against the rich to a crowd where the oldest car on the lot is about seven years old.

But an amazing thing has happened to Beshore over the past couple of years, according to an article published yesterday in the Wall Street Journal: he's trying to convince his flock to be sympathetic to the plight of illegal immigrants. And surprise, surprise: a bunch of them ain't agreeing.
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Matthew Warren

First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers go out to the loved ones of Matthew David Warren, the youngest son of Rick and Kay Warren of Purpose-Driven Life Fame, who died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound this past Friday. There's been an outpouring of support, thoughts, and prayers from anyone with a pure heart--but in this day and age, that's essentially six people somewhere in Albuquerque.

We're no fans of Rick at the Weekly, but we take no schaudenfreude in the passing of his son--only the Warrens know the pain that Matthew went through in his life (which Rick said was caused by lifelong mental illness), and frankly, it's their business. Too bad others can't follow our lead: over the weekend, Matthew's death, instead of serving as a reminder of the frailty of life, has turned into a referendum of how people feel about Rick--in other words, an exercise in self-reflection, on a story that only involves the Warrens.

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A suspended, cross-dressing Roman Catholic priest nicknamed "Monsignor Meth" because of his role in a drug operation whose suppliers were alleged to be two South County residents is expected to plead guilty to charges against him Tuesday. Federal court papers in Waterbury, Conn., indicate Kevin Wallin, who was accused in January of laundering drug sales proceeds through his post-priestly Land of Oz adult entertainment shop, will cop to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

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During yesterday's round-the-clock coverage of a Vatican City chimney, comedians tweeted their own version of play-by-play, before and after the selection of the new pope. My favorite was a single word from Pee-wee Herman ("FRANCIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!") that had me spit-taking into my laptop screen even before I opened the photo of his Big Adventure nemesis. The hits still keep coming on Twitter, so after the jump are five faves in the light of a new papal day.

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