Dean Aidan Smith, 42, who had been on the staff of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Pittsburgh since 2019, has resigned as dean since his Feb. 27 arrest, when he was caught leaving Walmart with 27 packs of baseball cards hidden under his clothing.
He was held in jail overnight and released after posting $50,000 bail.
“Aidan has tendered his resignation as dean, and I have accepted it,” wrote Bishop Ketlen A. Solak, head of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, in a statement released March 14.
“Aidan was placed on administrative leave in late January,” Solak wrote. “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.”
Smith had been under investigation by the diocese for possibly selling valuable artifacts belonging to the cathedral.
“For a number of weeks, we have been looking into whether Aidan improperly sold artifacts belonging to the cathedral through online platforms,” Solak wrote.
The eBay account linked to Smith’s home address drew the attention of church archives professionals, according to The Living Church.
In November 2025, a sterling silver tea set that had been used in the cathedral for a century went on sale for more than $2,000. A silver holy water cruet and a chalice made by Tiffany & Co. in 1881 were also up for sale for $489.
Among the items sold on eBay were a memorial service program for a 1912 service held at Trinity for victims of the Titanic, sold for $406; a signed letter by Union General George Meade from 1872 sold for $499; and a 1908 invitation from King Edward VII of England to the Rt. Rev. Cortlandt Whitehead, the second Bishop of Pittsburgh, which sold for $175.
Bishop Solak said that Title IV charges, the church’s process for addressing clergy misconduct, were formally initiated against Smith, and he is entitled to a presumption of innocence.
“While the civic charges related to Aidan’s arrest for retail theft are entirely separate from allegations that he failed to safeguard church property, the two matters will proceed as one Title IV case,” Solak wrote.
“Please continue to pray for Aidan, his family, and for everyone impacted by these events,” Solak said.