A Hialeah priest has been suspended by the U.S. Catholic Church after an anonymous video surfaced showing him gambling at three Miami-Dade casinos.
Rev. Orlando Molina of Rincón de San Lázaro church was filmed over a 13-hour period at Calder Casino and Race Course, Magic City Casino, and a third unidentified casino, the Miami Herald reports.
Univision 23 broke the story Tuesday when an anonymous letter was sent with the video to the station.
“I am surprised. I almost had a heart attack,” Bishop Michel Joseph Pugin of the USCC told the Herald. “Priests cannot be involved in this type of situation, especially in gambling or any other activity that can bring scandal to the church.”
Pugin said the church does not have evidence that Molina gambled with church offerings, which are stored in a box to which Molina does not have a key. Molina, 51, told El Nuevo Herald that his suspension is “an exaggerated and unfair decision.”
The Nicaraguan-born padre is not the first religious leader to hit the gaming tables.
In 2011, an Illinois priest was suspended for gambling -- and losing -- $300,000 of the church's money on riverboat casinos. (Parishioners have said they would be happy to have him back.)
In October, a Las Vegas monsignor came out to his parish as a gambling addict after pleading guilty to stealing $650,000. He asked for his job back
WATCH: The Rev. Molina is suspended pending an investigation (video in Spanish):