But this week, prosecutors said Sister Mary Margaret, 79, had agreed to plead guilty to stealing more than. Officials said that they carried out an internal audit as a matter of routine, since the school was about to get new leadership. Bank records show Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper and Sister Lana Chang had been embezzling funds from St. James Catholic School in Torrance for at least a decade, the Press-Telegram reported. CA: 2 Nuns Accused of Stealing Substantial Amount of Money From South Bay Catholic School.Principal, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, and teacher Sister Lana Chang.Substantial amount of school funds for their personal use.https://t.co/nIiuz3JiDR. Sister Kreuper who took a vow of poverty confessed to using the embezzled funds to pay for personal expenses, including her gambling habit. Sister Mary Margaret retired in June after 28 years as principal of the K-8 school, which serves students from Torrance and Redondo Beach. Sister Mary Kreuper served as the principal at St. James Catholic School in Torrance, California, for 28 years. ", U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II said at last year's plea hearing that he was raised as a Roman Catholic, "and was educated by nuns. The audit uncovered a long-forgotten account into which Kreuper would divert checks made out to the school. Nuns joining Kreupers, order, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, take vows of poverty when they are called to their vocation. People gamble in a casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in this illustrative image. However, Sister Kreuper wasnt alone in her scheme. Parents said the two nuns were big on moral fortitude . After charges were filed, her attorneys issued a statement saying Sister Mary Margaret suffered "from mental illness that clouded her judgment and caused her to do something that she otherwise would not have done. 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. They were angry that their children had been denied new facilities at the school because of Kreupers transgressions. I have sinned, I have broken the law, and I have no excuses, Kreuper said during Mondays hearing, according to the LA Times. Playing at online casino for real money can be a thrilling experience! As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. 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. She cant leave the premises unless shes given permission and she has to tell them where shes going and she has to be accompanied by somebody, the defense attorney told The Post. Two nuns have admitted to embezzling money from the Catholic school where they worked and using the cash to fund gambling sprees. Most of the funds she blew on gambling trips to Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe with her friend and housemate, Sister Lana Chang. Archdiocese lawyer Marge Graf said the nuns' order agreed to pay the school full restitution and impose "severe sanctions" on Kreuper and Chang. ", The judge advised Kreuper that he expected her to make a statement at sentencing, adding, "I don't have to worry about (lies) coming from you.". He holds dual bachelor's degrees from Pace University and a master's degree from New York University. She said that she diverted school funds into the St. James convent account and then into its federal credit union savings account. At the time, the church and archdiocese said that they would not press criminal charges against either woman. She was the principal. A California nun will plead guilty to swindling over $800,000 from the Catholic elementary school she ran to help pay for her gambling trips, federal prosecutors said. 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. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. A Los Angeles nun jailed for stealing more than $800,000 to fund a gambling habit has admitted "I have sinned". While other checks were being cashed properly and accounted for, the crooked nun deposited other checks in the secret bank accounts before they were even accounted for by staff. 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. Your IP: We do know that they had a pattern of going on trips. Click to reveal Wasnt it weird that she and her friends won every single raffle. 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" As a Catholic nun, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper had taken a vow of poverty. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, who was principal of St. James Catholic School in Torrance, California, used the school funds to . On December 10, the order issued a statement about the charges of financial misdoings. An 80-year-old nun who gambled away more than $835,000 in school funds was sentenced to twelve months and a day in federal prison Monday, according to a press release from the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). Mary Margaret Kreuper of Los Angeles was sentenced to one year and a day in prison after pleading guilty in July 2021 to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. 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. St. James Catholic SchoolSister Mary Margaret Kreuper embezzled $835,339 in the schools tuition, fees, and charitable donations for her personal expenses. She broke the law, she has no excuses for it and she took full responsibility.. She also managed several of the schools bank accounts, including one that had been set up to pay the living expenses of the other nuns who worked there. 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. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. There have been calls among some parents for the pair to be charged while others said they should be forgiven. Ad Choices, That Lying, Gambling, Embezzling Nun Pleads Guilty. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. For Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, the rest of her mortal life will be decided in a few short weeks. A subsequent financial review found that a substantial amount of school funds had been misappropriated for personal use by Sister Mary Margaret, with the Torrance Police Department expanding its investigation into the matter in December 2018. Sister Lana Chang worked alongside Sister Kreuper for 20 years, at least 10 of which they spent embezzling the schools money together. 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. But not all the parishioners were as understanding. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper of Los Angeles will serve one year, and one day, behind federal prison bars for fraud and money laundering charges. Two summers ago, Sean Flynn reported a wild story for GQ about two very badly behaved nuns: Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, and Sister Lana Chang, a principal and a teacher at St. James Catholic School in Torrance, California. LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) Mary Margaret Kreuper, a now-retired nun who was the principal of St. James Catholic School in Torrance, has agreed to plead guilty to fraud and money laundering charges. Many of the letters I cited and many of the people who spoke, talked about wanting something more from their childrens education. After reading about the retired nun who stole over $800,000 to support her gambling habit, learn about the dead priest whose DNA could help solve a nun's decades-old murder. But in fact, the sisters were only depositing some of the checks that came in. Eventually, a forensic accountant discovered that there was a half-million dollars missing from the schools accounts. 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. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, 79, a former principal at St James Catholic School in Torrance, California, used tuition fees and donations to subsidize casino gambling expenses and credit. This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Torrance and Sister Lana Chang. We had a lot of letters from parents and students who knew about the fact that she had taken the money, and presumably the money was taken from them, and yet they found it in their hearts to forgive her, Byrne said. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper admitted embezzling $835,000 from St James Catholic School in the LA suburb of Torrance. He said some former St. James Catholic School students even wrote letters to the judge in support of their former teacher and principal. 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Kreuper even took fellow nuns on some of those excursions and spent thousands of the elementary schools money, Kumar said. Meanwhile, she would falsify monthly and annual reports to cover up her conduct. Kreuper, 79, could get sentenced to up to 40 years behind bars. 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. But the Catholic church is glad to have a scandal that doesn't involve boy-rape, so they've got that going for them. The disgraced nun stole hundreds of thousands of . While investigators found the two gave some of the stolen money back to the school, the rest was used for their "personal gain." And wasnt it even weirder that she was going to Vegas all the time? Since 1957, GQ has inspired men to look sharper and live smarter with its unparalleled coverage of style, culture, and beyond. Of course! 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. The rest, they were depositing into a separate account and using for their own purposes. The diocese had initially called the police, but after the nuns confessed they said they wouldnt press charges against the nuns. They did not necessarily overlook, but asked to judge her more by her entire life rather than the theft from by St. James (Catholic School). 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. 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. She retired as the schools principal in 2018, after 28 years in the role, it said. Defense attorneys said Kreuper became a nun when she was 18 years old, and for the next 59 years "dedicated her life to helping others and educating children in Archdiocesan schools. As soon as she was confronted, she accepted full responsibility for what she had done and she has cooperated completely with law enforcement and the archdiocese, her lawyers told The Guardian. According to The New York Times, the 79-year-old retired nun was just recently charged with wire fraud and money laundering. Kreuper is the schools former principal. The nuns embezzlement first came to light when Sister Mary Margaret was about to retire, according to church officials. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper embezzled $835,339 in the schools tuition, fees, and charitable donations for her personal expenses. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Oh boy, the flying nun really did it this time. She was running the school that these parents had chosen to send their children [to], and not just for the academics. Bobby Kent And The Murder That Inspired The Cult Classic Film "Bully", What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch, Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, who worked as the school principal for 28 years, and Sister Lana Chang, confessed to embezzling at least $500,000 from the Catholic school so that they could gamble . We were an ATM, and people know it and they wont ask for justice, Jack Alexander, a father at the school, said. Two longtime nuns at St. James Catholic School in Torrance allegedly embezzled as much as $500,000 in tuition, fees and donations. At OUSC you will find the most trusted sites to play with cash and the best real money games. 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. Powered by. Two nuns from a California Catholic school have been accused of siphoning $500,000 in tuition, fees, and donations that could have gone towards the school's development into a different account that was then used to fund trips and casino visits. Some of them said they couldnt understand why the school had been operating on shoestring budget while Sister Mary Margaret and Sister Lana had been going on gambling sprees. A federal judge sentenced Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, a nun and former Catholic school principal, to a year in prison for embezzling more than $835,000 from the school she ran to fund a more secular lifestyle including gambling trips. Kreuper was the schools principal for 29 years. As it stands, the Los Angeles Archdiocese said it was shocked and saddened.. But officials from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles told parents and alumni of the school that auditors have not been able to trace all of the money trail. "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. Substantial amount of school funds for their personal use.https://t.co/nIiuz3JiDR, Dalton (@DaltonReport) December 1, 2018. 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. Sister Mary Margarets lawyers, Mark A. Byrne and Daniel V. Nixon, said she was very remorseful., As soon as she was confronted she accepted full responsibility for what she had done and she has cooperated completely with law enforcement and the Archdiocese, they said in a statement. Everyone Practices Cancel Culture | Opinion, Deplatforming Free Speech is Dangerous | Opinion, Armed Woman Who Held Up Vegas Casino Tracked by Cops, Nuns' Tour Against Trump Tax Law to End at Mar-a-Lago. Prosecutor said she also admitted to falsifying the schools financial records. 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. Thanks for contacting us. To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com. The nuns funneled hundreds of thousands of fundraising dollars into a shell account to support a gambling habit. She currently faces up to 40 years in federal prison with a court date set for July 1. Cloudflare Ray ID: 7a110852986c4083 Chang was a teacher for 20 years before being promoted to vice principal. She is scheduled to appear in the Federal District Court in Los Angeles on July 1. Her religious order, Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, which according to court documents was paying for her living expenses, said in a statement on Wednesday that it would not comment until the legal process was completed. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. From award-winning writing and photography to binge-ready videos to electric live events, GQ meets millions of modern men where they live, creating the moments that create conversations. But this week, prosecutors said Sister Mary Margaret, 79, had agreed to plead guilty to stealing more than $835,000 from a Catholic elementary school to support a gambling habit and to pay for other personal expenses. Kreuper was released under her own recognizance but will have to turn herself in to the Federal Bureau of Prisons by June 7 to begin her year-and-a-day sentence. Parents told The Daily Breeze in December 2018 they were not prepared to absolve Kreuper of her sins. Defense attorney Mark Byrne told The Post that Kreuper joined her order when she was 18 years old and has been an educator for 54 years. Letters to the school was about to retire, according to the school about!, talked about wanting something more from their childrens education currently faces up to years! 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