San Diego

The son of a San Diego evangelist who plans to buy the scandal-plagued PTL ministry is in County Jail on a burglary charge, police said Wednesday.

Police arrested Mark Stephen Cerullo, 33, the youngest son of evangelist Morris Cerullo, in connection with an aborted burglary attempt at a home-improvement store July 29, said police spokesman Bill Robinson.

Mark Cerullo was apprehended by security guards at the Home Depot store in the 3500 block of Sports Arena Boulevard, where he allegedly posed as a store employee and tried to leave without paying for an air-conditioning unit, Robinson said.

Mark Cerullo is charged with one count of burglary and one count of grand theft, said Linda Miller of the district attorney’s office. He is scheduled for arraignment Aug. 28 in Superior Court, Miller said.

Mark Cerullo is on probation from a February, 1989, burglary conviction, Robinson said.

Last spring, a federal bankruptcy judge gave Morris Cerullo approval to buy the PTL cable network and Heritage USA theme park formerly owned by Jim Bakker.

Morris Cerullo produced the funds needed to purchase the network, pending approval from the Federal Communications Commission, and has reportedly been trying to raise $45 million needed to buy the theme park.