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 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. Kreuper acknowledged that for a period of 10 years ending in September 2018, she embezzled $835,339 from St. James Catholic School. He added that an expert report explained she had a gambling addiction. According to The New York Times, the 79-year-old retired nun was just recently charged with wire fraud and money laundering. . Police said they were still carrying out their own investigation. The diocese had initially called the police, but after the nuns confessed they said they wouldnt press charges against the nuns. 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. The archdiocese and St. James Parish and School are grateful to local and federal law enforcement agencies for their work in the investigation of this matter. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. She will be under two years supervision when she is released, Kumar said. Kreuper controlled accounts at a credit union, including a savings account for the school and one established to pay the living expenses of nuns -- who had taken a vow of poverty -- employed by the school, prosecutors said. At the time of Flynns reporting, St. James School estimated the two women embezzled around $500,000. Thanks for contacting us. She is very sorry for any harm she has caused.". Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times/Getty ImagesSister Mary Kreuper served as the principal at St. James Catholic School in Torrance, California, for 28 years. But not all the parishioners were as understanding. 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. Eventually, a forensic accountant discovered that there was a half-million dollars missing from the schools accounts. 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. A Los Angeles nun jailed for stealing more than $800,000 to fund a gambling habit has admitted "I have sinned". 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 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. 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. 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.. Kreuper, who apologized to the community during Mondays sentencing, also made a Hail Mary plea to the judge for leniency. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, who was principal of St. James Catholic School in Torrance, California, used the school funds to . Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. Assistant US Attorney Poonam Kumar told The Post that the wayward nun took frequent gambling trips to Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, Temecula and other locations throughout Southern California. A staff writer for All Thats Interesting, Marco Margaritoff has also published work at outlets including People, VICE, and Complex, covering everything from film to finance to technology. She broke the law, she has no excuses for it and she took full responsibility.. Most of the money came from school fundraisers; some came from a tuition hike. The sisters stole a total of $500,000, or half a million dollars, officials said. Kreuper pleaded guilty to the charges in July and also admitted she falsified monthly and annual reports to the school administration, and told employees to cover up her fraudulent conduct. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. Church officials said that both Kreuper and Chang confessed to taking the money, and expressed remorse, asking for forgiveness and prayers. Monsignor Micheal Meyers, the pastor at St. James Catholic Church sent a letter to pupils' parents stating that Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, the nuns' order, is cooperating with the parish and the Archdiocese to find out how much money was taken. Cloudflare Ray ID: 7a110852986c4083 There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. Most of the funds she blew on gambling trips to Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe with her friend and housemate, Sister Lana Chang. "These nuns took a vow of poverty and said, 'Oh no, we've got a rich uncle'. A Los Angeles nun jailed for stealing more than $800,000 to fund a gambling habit has admitted "I have sinned". 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. 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. What are the details? 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. 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. 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. The disgraced nun stole hundreds of thousands of . 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. 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. According to local news outlet KTLA5, Kreuper was aided by Sister Lana Chang, who taught eighth grade and was vice-principal at the school. 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Blige, Quincy Jones, Chuck D Weigh In on a Persistent Controversy, Lisa Marie Presley Laid to Rest at Graceland, Puyallup Tribe to Redevelop Former Emerald Queen Casino Tacoma Property, Las Vegas Date Set for Gervonta Davis vs. Ryan Garcia Boxing Superfight, France's Soccer Boss Out Over Sexual Harassment Claims Ahead of Women's World Cup, Atlantic City Recreational Cannabis Lounge Near Boardwalk Casinos Gains Approval, Aristocrat, IGT Among Winners of EKG Slot Awards, Las Vegas Mansion For Sale With Its Own Private Italian Street, Januarys Las Vegas Room Rates Beat Pre-Pandemic Levels. 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. And I don't look at nuns as ordinary people. "At our school, we have initiated additional procedures and oversight policies for financial management and reporting responsibilities," Meyers wrote. Mary Margaret Kreuper, 80, of Los Angeles, was also ordered to pay $825,338 in restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. "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. She was the principal. Graf said: "We do know that they had a pattern of going on trips, we do know they had a pattern of going to casinos, and the reality is, they used the account as their personal account.". 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. 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 . Nuns joining Kreupers, order, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, take vows of poverty when they are called to their vocation. 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. Kreuper was only exposed when she retired in 2018 and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles noted some irregularities in the schools bookkeeping while searching for her replacement. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper and Sister Lana Chang were seen as two of the strictest nuns at St James Catholic School in Torrance, California. Regardless, dont trust any nun who absolutely crushes Texas Holdem, and read Flynns original story here. She served as the schools principal for 29 years. Teacher quits union as pro-Palestinian stance left her fee King Charles to evict Harry and Meghan from Frogmore Cottage and give to Andrew, 'Elvis' star Austin Butler was rushed to ER after 'body just started shutting down', Drug-resistant stomach bug spreading across US: 'Serious public health alert', Meghan Markle, Prince Harry have first night out since bombshell Spare released, Jordyn Woods supports Selena Gomez amid singers feud with Kylie Jenner, Hailey Bieber, RHONJ recap: Jennifer Aydin mocks Rachel Fudas terrible nose job, Heroic bus driver saves student from passing car, Savannah Guthrie Rushed Out Of Today After Testing Positive For COVID-19 During Live Broadcast, Meghan Markle, Prince Harry have first night out since bombshell 'Spare' released. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper and Sister Lana Chang were seen as two of the strictest nuns at St James Catholic School in Torrance, California. Parents said the two nuns were big on moral fortitude . 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. Pictured, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper and Sister Lana Chang of St.James Catholic School, Torrance, 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. Two longtime nuns at St. James Catholic School in Torrance allegedly embezzled as much as $500,000 in tuition, fees and donations. The attorney said the nuns had spent the money on gambling trips and on vacations. That order has also paid for Kreupers living expenses for multiple decades. There have been calls among some parents for the pair to be charged while others said they should be forgiven. Sister Mary Margaret Gambling. "I've used this to teach my son that we're all human, we all make mistakes, but the power of forgiveness is the most powerful tool that we have. 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. 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? Alexander also pointed out that the two nuns had routinely lied to parents at the school about how they were paying for their vacations and their gambling trips. Shawn is the son of Linda and Bill Flannery born November 25, 1972 in Cincinnati, Ohio. 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 . The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. The nuns embezzlement first came to light when Sister Mary Margaret was about to retire, according to church officials. Kreuper had retired as the school's principal earlier this year and she dealt with the school fees, which she allegedly withheld and deposited into an account only she and Chang knew about, the paper said. 29 years Torrance allegedly embezzled as much as $ 500,000, or half a million dollars, said. The action you just performed triggered the security solution an expert report explained she had a gambling addiction the... Years supervision when she is released, Kumar said pair to be charged others. 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