A CATHEDRAL dean in the United States, who was arrested and charged with stealing baseball cards worth more than £1000 from a supermarket, is also under investigation for allegedly selling cathedral artefacts online, it has been confirmed.

The Dean of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, in Pittsburgh, the Very Revd Aidan Smith, has now resigned following his arrest by police last month. He was charged with retail theft after he was caught leaving a Walmart store with 27 packs of baseball cards concealed under his clothing, according to court records quoted by the Associated Press news agency.

Police said that security camera footage showed him taking baseball cards from the same store on the preceding four days, each time without paying.

The Bishop of Pittsburgh, the Rt Revd Ketlen Solak, wrote to the cathedral congregation last Saturday, confirming that the Dean — on administrative leave since late January — was also under investigation for selling cathedral goods through online platforms.

She met members of the congregation before posting her letter online, confirming that she had now accepted Mr Smith’s resignation as Dean.

“You know that Aidan was placed on administrative leave in late January,” the letter says. “This leave was prompted by an ongoing investigation into questions we received at the end of December and beginning of January suggesting that he may have failed to safeguard the property of the church.

“On February 15, shortly after his leave began, proceedings under The Episcopal Church’s Title IV canons — which specify the church’s process for addressing clergy misconduct — were formally initiated against him.

“Given news reports about his arrest, I believe it is now pastorally appropriate to make you aware that for a number of weeks, we have been looking into whether Aidan improperly sold artifacts belonging to the cathedral through online platforms.”

Mr Smith was elected Dean of Trinity in June 2020.

The Bishop’s letter, posted on the diocesan website, does not specify the particular items which are alleged to have been sold online.

She asked the congregation to continue to pray for Mr Smith and his family, and said that she would be in charge of the operation of the cathedral while the investigation continued, alongside its executive committee.

Discussions about its future would begin in three to four months after a period to “breathe and heal”, Bishop Solak said.