She basically was able to keep them secret and the school administration was never the wiser that there were these extra funds that she was taking, Kumar told The Post. Mary Margaret Kreuper, 80, of Los Angeles, was also ordered to pay $825,338 in restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. While Kreuper spent the schools funds on gambling trips, the former principal continued to ask parents to donate more money to the school on top of their $6,000 annual tuition. Los Angeles Archdiocese of Los Angeles Gambling nuns nuns Las Vegas Saint James Catholic School . Prosecutors said Kreuper, who was the schools principal for 28 years, diverted funds to pay for expenses that her order the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet would never have approved, including large gambling expenses from casino trips and credit card charges she made from 2008 to September 2018. She ran the institution on a shoestring while plundering an account containing tuition fees and charitable donations over a period of ten years. To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com. Kreuper, who was the principal of the school for 28 years, agreed to plead guilty as part of a deal with prosecutors, the release said. But instead of managing the money as the school intended, Kreuper reportedly forged monthly and annual financial statements for the school as well as ordered multiple employees to falsify or destroy records in the midst of an audit. Kreuper is the schools former principal. LOS ANGELES, CA The retired principal of a Catholic elementary school in Torrance, who as a nun took a vow of poverty, was sentenced Monday to 12 months and a day behind bars for embezzling more than $835,000 in school funds to support a gambling habit and other personal expenses. In California, a septuagenarian nun faces up to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to federal fraud and money laundering charges. Meanwhile, she would falsify monthly and annual reports to cover up her conduct. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper was sentenced to a year in prison after she admitted to stealing more than $835,000 from a Southern California school to fund her gambling addiction. And wasnt it even weirder that she was going to Vegas all the time? 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For Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, the rest of her mortal life will be decided in a few short weeks. Mary Margaret Kreuper, 79, was charged Tuesday with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, according to the U.S. attorney's office for the Central District of California. But somewhere along the line, you just ran completely off the road, and I think you understand that. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper embezzled $835,339 in the schools tuition, fees, and charitable donations for her personal expenses. As principal -- a position she had for nearly 30 years before she retired -- Kreuper was responsible for the money the school received to pay for tuition and fees, as well as for charitable donations, according to documents filed in Los Angeles federal court. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. Kreuper was the schools principal for 29 years. In December 2018, after a meeting with the archdiocese, the Torrance Police Department said that it was dedicating additional staffing to help examine evidence and find people who had submitted tuition checks, account payment information or cash donations. Most of the funds she blew on gambling trips to Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe with her friend and housemate, Sister Lana Chang. The 80-year-old nun also was ordered to pay a total of $825,338.57 in restitution for the money she embezzled while she was a principal at St. James Catholic School in Torrance, Calif. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper was 47 years old and had been a Catholic educator for more than 19 years when she came to St. James School in 1988. Mary Margaret Kreuper, 79, first made headlines in 2018 after she and another nun were found to have taken as much as $500,000 to finance gambling trips to Las Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. And I don't look at nuns as ordinary people. "Pop Dick Stabile ", as he was known to those who loved . Archdiocese of Los Angeles officials said in a statement that school officials and others cooperated with the investigation. In total, it is believed she stole $835,339 at least that authorities are currently aware of. The 80-year-old nun also was ordered to pay a total of. Kreuper acknowledged that for a period of 10 years ending in September 2018, she embezzled $835,339 from St. James Catholic School. There have been calls among some parents for the pair to be charged while others said they should be forgiven. 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The offices of the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California revealed that she had used funds raised for the school for personal expenses as well as gambling. Sister Kreuper who took a vow of poverty confessed to using the embezzled funds to pay for personal expenses, including her gambling habit. "I was wrong, and I am profoundly sorry for the pain and the suffering that I have caused so many people.". 'I have sinned': 80-year-old gambling nun jailed after blaming gender pay gap for stealing $800,000 from kids Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper said she stole tuition checks and donations in. Let us pray for our school families and for Sister Mary Margaret and Sister Lana," Myers added . Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper admits to stealing over $835k from a Catholic School. They wanted to get a Catholic education with the morals and values that they believed in and that they lead their lives in, and thats what they were looking for in the school. One man, whose children attend St James, grumbled that the nuns had been using the school as if it was their own private ATM. A Los Angeles nun jailed for stealing more than $800,000 to fund a gambling habit has admitted "I have sinned". Gambling Nun Who Embezzled $800,000+ of School Funds Gets Off Lightly With 366-Day Jail Sentence Judge Wright II sentenced Kreuper to one year and a day in a federal prison She must also pay $825,338.57 in restitution for the money she embezzled Kreuper admitted using the school funds to pay for "large gambling expenses" She further admitted "lulling St. James School and the administration into believing that the school's finances were being properly accounted for and its financial assets properly safeguarded," which allowed her to maintain access to the school's finances. Southern California authorities have revealed two nuns allegedly embezzling up to $500K which was parlayed . Kreuper's attorney Mark Byrne explained that his client, who retired in 2018, has been under strict supervision at her convent. Kreuper even took fellow nuns on some of those excursions and spent thousands of the elementary schools money, Kumar said. The statement pledged that the order would work with the diocese to discover the full amount that had been taken from the school; they pledged to restore all of the money that was stolen. She also controlled the schools credit union accounts, which she used to divert other funds into that she would then use for the spending, according to prosecutors. She'd taught fifth grade at Our Lady of Las Vegas . Officials also say that as they audit started, Sister Mary Margaret started to seem very anxious they say that she even asked people to falsify information for her. She broke the law, she has no excuses for it and she took full responsibility.. The nun was in charge of overseeing tuition money, fees the school received and charitable donations, prosecutors said. The employees then reported Kreuper to the monsignor of the parish, Kumar said. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper of Los Angeles will serve one year, and one day, behind federal prison bars for fraud and money laundering charges. Kreuper claimed the school was always strapped for cash, then funneled donations into shell accounts that she and Chang would use to fund trips to Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, 79, was charged Tuesday with wire fraud and money laundering for ripping off St. James Catholic School for a period of 10 years ending in September 2018, according to a press release from the US Attorneys Office in the Central District of California. To revisit this article, visit My Profile, thenView saved stories. In 1940, she was 2 years old and lived in Belmont, Ohio, with her father, mother, 2 brothers, and sister. Then, read about the Missouri nun who smuggled two pounds of cocaine and blamed her internet boyfriend for doing so. Kreuper used the stolen funds for personal expenses like paying off credit cards but primarily to finance her gambling habit at casinos across Nevada. Her religious order, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, has yet to publicly comment on the matter. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, 79, of Los Angeles, will plead guilty to fraud and money laundering and faces up to 40 years in prison, the U.S. Department of Justice announced. She alone will face criminal charges. Kreuper, who apologized to the community during Mondays sentencing, also made a Hail Mary plea to the judge for leniency. Despite taking a vow of poverty, an 80-year-old nun was sentenced on Monday for stealing more than $800,000 to pay for personal expenses, including gambling trips. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. In July 1520, when scarcely four and a half years old, she entertained a visiting French delegation with a performance on the virginals (a type of harpsichord). This was really an abuse of position of trust, right, Kumar said. A great part of her early education came from her mother, who consulted the Spanish humanist Juan Luis Vives for advice and commissioned him to write De Institutione Feminae Christianae, a treatise on the . Diverting embezzled funds into secret accounts, Kreuper used the money "to pay for expenses that the order would not have approved, much less paid for," including large gambling expenses and trips to Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe and Temecula, according to her plea agreement. I have sinned, I have broken the law, and I have no excuses, Kreuper said during Mondays hearing, according to the LA Times. 3 Inmates Taken To Hospitals After Medical Emergency At LA County Jail, SoCal Storm Timeline: When To Expect More Rain, Snow And A Reprieve, Downed Trees & Mud Flows + Check Out Supremes Floating Skate Bowl, 'Cookin with GAS' 30th Anniversary Improv 2023: Groundlings, Los Angeles/WeHo, AlienCon 2023: Convention Center, Pasadena, The Best You Expo is coming to the Los Angeles Convention Center, 3 Days to Party Celebrating Women Everyday in LA, LA Cat Extravaganza & Adoption Event 2023: Fairplex, Pomona, 5th Annual The Best You Awards Ceremony and Charity Gala, Personal Assistant for Older New Yorkers in Manhattan NYC, Modeling Agency For Prostitution Scheme And Sexual Exploitation: AG, Shaken My Turkey's Death Toll, County Looks To Require Quake Retrofits, CA Scandal-Makers & Movie-Makers Shape 2022's Most Popular Baby Names, Michelin Adds 30 SoCal Restaurants To Prestigious Guide, Only In California: Car Chases Even Hollywood Couldn't Dream Up. Mary Margaret Kreuper, a nun who admitted stealing more than $800,000 from St. James Catholic School in Torrance when she was its principal, spent some of the money on trips to Las Vegas and. We continue to offer our prayers for all impacted by this matter.. The audit uncovered a long-forgotten account into which Kreuper would divert checks made out to the school. In addition to stealing $835,339, she falsified monthly and annual reports, and instructed employees to alter and destroy financial records during a school audit. She currently faces up to 40 years in federal prison with a court date set for July 1. They noted that a lay person in the same situation could expect a lengthy prison sentence. By Megan Carpentier The St. James Catholic Church school in Torrance, California, on February 7, 2022. Officials said the sisters were in charge of collecting checks and depositing them into the schools account. A. Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. She said that she diverted school funds into the St. James convent account and then into its federal credit union savings account. Church officials said that both Kreuper and Chang confessed to taking the money, and expressed remorse, asking for forgiveness and prayers. However, Sister Kreuper wasnt alone in her scheme. Kreuper pleaded guilty in July to federal wire fraud and money laundering charges. Of course! They added that she has been suffering from a mental illness that clouded her judgment and caused her to do something that she otherwise would not have done., They said Sister Mary Margaret became a nun when she was 18, and for the next 59 years she dedicated her life to helping others and educating children in Archdiocesan schools.. To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories. But not all the parishioners were as understanding. Kreuper and Chang are both members of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. Kreuper claimed she had a rich uncle who paid for the trips. When an audit threatened to expose the scheme, Kreuper instructed St. James employees to destroy documents, according to prosecutors. Mary Margaret Kreuper, principal of St. James Catholic School in Torrance, Calif., until 2018, was charged with stealing more than $835,000 in school funds to pay for personal expenses, including gambling trips. Sisters Mary Margaret Kreuper and Lana Chang, who belong to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, are suspected of embezzling a "substantial" amount of money from a Catholic school in. Looking back, though, wasnt it a little strange that Sister Mary Margaret was always organizing poker nights at the school for charity, and that she always made the final table? So shes basically under house arrest, which she accepts.. Police said they were still carrying out their own investigation. The Essential Michelle Yeoh Viewing Guide, Donna Kelce Tells Us the Story Behind Her Half-Eagles, Half-Chiefs Jersey, Sex Lives: A Guy Who Draws the Line at Married Men. Our Sisters take full responsibility for the choices they made and are subject to the law., The order said that they were imposing their own kind of punishment on Kreuper and on Chang: Canonical Restrictions have been imposed. On Monday, an attorney told the parents of St James students that the two nuns had used school funds as if the funds belonged to their own personal account. At OUSC you will find the most trusted sites to play with cash and the best real money games. Shawn graduated from Batesville High School in 1991 before attending Ball State University and receiving his BS from . She diverted school funds into the St. James Convent Account and the St. James Savings Account, which were used "to pay for expenses that the order would not have approved, much less paid for, including large gambling expenses incurred at casinos and certain credit card charges," the Department of Justice stated. Before Kreuper was sentenced, parents of children attending St. James and former students sent letters about Kreuper's role at the school and the impact of her actions. Jack Alexander of Redondo Beach said that the pair would often go traveling and gambling, claiming they had been given the money by a rich relative. Sister Mary Margaret became a nun when she turned 18 in 1960 and took a vow of poverty. "I have sinned, I have broken the law, and I have no excuses," Kreuper told U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II, Los Angeles Times reported. Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images, 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Nun stops burglary with quick thinking and prayers: This is Gods property, Sister Andre, the worlds oldest living person, dies at 118, I was a celibate nun for 24 years then fell in love with a Catholic monk, Priest accused of inviting two nuns to take part in a threesome. Sisters of St. Joseph of CarondeletSister Lana Chang worked alongside Sister Kreuper for 20 years, at least 10 of which they spent embezzling the schools money together. The disgraced nun stole hundreds of thousands of . "This is merely an explanation.". Kreuper, who used funds to pay for trips to Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe and Temecula, says she will use the rest of her days trying to make amends. Kumar added Kreupers scheme was revealed after the school performed an informal audit shortly after the nun announced she would be retiring as principal in 2018. CA: 2 Nuns Accused of Stealing Substantial Amount of Money From South Bay Catholic School. As it stands, the Los Angeles Archdiocese said it was shocked and saddened.. the dead priest whose DNA could help solve a nuns decades-old murder, the Missouri nun who smuggled two pounds of cocaine. ", But a 12-year-old said Kreuper was "just like any other robber.". When Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper was 18 years old, she vowed to dedicate her life to the education of children and helping those in need. Sister Lana taught there for 20 years. "I apologize for the public scandal, the embarrassment and the financial burden that I have placed on the sisters in my religious community, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, St. James School, the parishioners, parents and students who placed their trust in me," she said. Kevin Kearns, who enrolled his son in kindergarten in 2011, says he has used this as a teachable moment and asked for leniency for Kreuper, the LA Times reported. They were able to get away with it because the school was doing so well, financially, that nobody ever missed the money. Parents said the two nuns were big on moral fortitude and that they were very hard on kids who slipped up and broke the rules. Its unclear what will happen to Chang, or whether shes even involved in any ongoing investigation. But all the while, they were using school funds to pay for their jaunts. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, 80, who took a vow of poverty, begged a judge to show her mercy and spare her prison, saying: "I have sinned, I've broken the law and I have no excuses." Kreuper admitted embezzling about $835,000 (616,000) in donations, tuition and fee money between . As soon as she was confronted, she accepted full responsibility for what she had done and she has cooperated fully with law enforcement and the Archdiocese. Regardless, dont trust any nun who absolutely crushes Texas Holdem, and read Flynns original story here. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, who was principal of St. James Catholic School in Torrance, California, used the school funds to . She served as the schools principal for 29 years. Kreuper has admitted she took the money and expressed remorse. The archdiocese informed authorities of the matter in 2018 when financial reviews during a change in leadership showed a substantial amount of school funds had been misappropriated for personal use by Sister Mary Margaret during her tenure as school principal, church officials said. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper and Sister Lana Chang were seen as two of the strictest nuns at St James Catholic School in Torrance, California. Crime & Safety Gambling Nun's Bad 'Habit' Catches Up To Her Catholic school principal Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, 80, was sentenced to prison for embezzling from the school to feed a gambling habit. Head Nun Caught Stealing Over $800,000 From Catholic Elementary School Where She Worked. On December 10, the order issued a statement about the charges of financial misdoings. Apply Bed Bath and Beyond coupon and save 25% off your entire purchase, Target Circle: up to 50% off with Target promo code, With Asos Promo Code you take 70% OFF Select styles, Michael Kors promo code: sign up for KORSVIP + Get 10% off on First Order, 2023 Cond Nast. She also admitted to falsifying monthly and annual financial reports, and to telling school employees to alter and destroy financial records during an audit, the prosecutors statement and court documents said. At the time, the church and archdiocese said that they would not press criminal charges against either woman. Kumar said Kreuper was able to dodge detection for so many years because she would divert tuition checks and other funds to two old bank accounts that other school administrators were not aware were still being used. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. "Our community is concerned and saddened by this situation and regret any injury to our long relationship with the families of the school," the Order said in a statement. Wasnt it weird that she and her friends won every single raffle. The two nuns. Kreuper, 79, was charged Tuesday with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, and in a plea agreement pleaded guilty to both charges, the Associated Press reported. But this week, prosecutors said Sister Mary Margaret, 79, had agreed to plead guilty to stealing more than. That order has also paid for Kreupers living expenses for multiple decades. The archdiocese of Los Angeles told parents about the suspected embezzlement in a meeting on Monday evening. We've received your submission. The first steps with free slots are easy, but once you are ready to switch to real . She was rumbled in June 2018, just as she was about to retire after 28 years as principal, when an internal audit blew the lid off the racket. What happened is wrong. By clicking Accept All Cookies, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. It remains unclear which years specifically she embezzled funds from the school during her 28-year tenure there, though she did admit to doing so for over a decade. She was the principal. This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Torrance and Sister Lana Chang. He was unhappy with the churchs decision not to prosecute. Sister Mary Margaret Gambling. Prosecutors asked for a sentence of two years, but US District Judge Otis D. Wright II said during Mondays sentencing that he also struggled to find the proper sentence for the nun, and even said she was one heck of a teacher., You can be proud of that, Wright said, according to the LA Times. 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