Head Nun Caught Stealing Over $800,000 From Catholic Elementary School Where She Worked. The 80-year old nun was ordered to pay $825,338.57 she embezzled while principal at St.. What are the details? 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. She was the principal. Would love your thoughts, please comment. Pictured, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper and Sister Lana Chang of St.James Catholic School, Torrance, California. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper admits to stealing over $835k from a Catholic School. Some parents said they planned to go to the police as a complaining party. 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. Thats why it came as a shock to many when the two sisters were accused of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from the schools funds and using it to gamble in Las Vegas. 178.79.131.117 ", But a 12-year-old said Kreuper was "just like any other robber.". He said some former St. James Catholic School students even wrote letters to the judge in support of their former teacher and principal. 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 . Los Angeles Archdiocese of Los Angeles Gambling nuns nuns Las Vegas Saint James Catholic School . "Pop Dick Stabile ", as he was known to those who loved . 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). More on this story First at 10 on Fox. 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.. Kreuper even took fellow nuns on some of those excursions and spent thousands of the elementary schools money, Kumar said. GQ may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. As principal of St. James Catholic School in Torrance, California, she certainly did but while also embezzling more than $835,000 in funds to support her secretive gambling habit. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. A. But according to the US Attorneys Office Central District of California, Kreuper diverted funds 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.. Concern over the schools finances started to increase as the Archdiocese of Los Angeles began to prepare for the change of leadership in 2018, the archdiocese said in a statement. 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). While investigators found the two gave some of the stolen money back to the school, the rest was used for their "personal gain." Substantial amount of school funds for their personal use.https://t.co/nIiuz3JiDR, Dalton (@DaltonReport) December 1, 2018. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Oh boy, the flying nun really did it this time. This lulled St. James School and the Administration into believing that the schools finances were being properly accounted for and its financial assets properly safeguarded, which, in turn, allowed defendant Kreuper to maintain her access and control of the schools finances and accounts and, thus, continue operating the fraudulent scheme, according to the DOJ. the dead priest whose DNA could help solve a nuns decades-old murder, the Missouri nun who smuggled two pounds of cocaine. 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. 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. 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. 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. People gamble in a casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in this illustrative image. 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 . 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. We were an ATM, and people know it and they wont ask for justice, Jack Alexander, a father at the school, said. The lawyers added that she has been suffering from a mental illness that clouded her judgment and is very remorseful.. 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. 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.". Sister Mary Margaret became a nun when she turned 18 in 1960 and took a vow of poverty. 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A disgraced nun who stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Los Angeles Catholic elementary school and went on Vegas gambling sprees will be reciting her penance from inside a federal prison cell. 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. 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. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, of Los Angeles, was sentenced Monday to one year and one day for fraud and money laundering charges. 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 Lana taught there for 20 years. 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. 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 is not an excuse for what she did," he said. Police have been informed but the Archdiocese does not intend to pursue criminal proceedings against the sisters. 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Eventually, a forensic accountant discovered that there was a half-million dollars missing from the schools accounts. "The church tells us to forgive those who have trespassed against us," Kearns said. Church officials said that both Kreuper and Chang confessed to taking the money, and expressed remorse, asking for forgiveness and prayers. We do know they had a pattern of going to casinos, and the reality is, they used the account as their personal account, the attorney told the crowd at the meeting. Shawn graduated from Batesville High School in 1991 before attending Ball State University and receiving his BS from . Officials said the sisters were in charge of collecting checks and depositing them into the schools account. 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. The statement also condemned the embezzlement, saying, we will not defend the actions of our Sisters. One man, whose children attend St James, grumbled that the nuns had been using the school as if it was their own private ATM. However, Sister Kreuper wasnt alone in her scheme. Thats when they started to notice irregularities in the bookkeeping. 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. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. Name, email and comment will be stored in our database. Sisters Mary Margaret Krueper, left, and Lana Chang. The 79-year-old former nun pleaded guilty to federal charges for stealing more than $800,000 from St. James Catholic School earlier this month. Seemingly in the clear after that, she used the embezzled cash for expenses that the order would not have approved, much less paid for from Nevada casinos to paying off credit cards. 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. This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Torrance and Sister Lana Chang. 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. Kreuper claimed she had a rich uncle who paid for the trips. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper and Sister Lana Chang were seen as two of the strictest nuns at St James Catholic School in Torrance, California. 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 . 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. Its unclear what will happen to Chang, or whether shes even involved in any ongoing investigation. Let us pray for our school families and for Sister Mary Margaret and Sister Lana," Myers added . Wikimedia CommonsKreuper used the stolen funds for personal expenses like paying off credit cards but primarily to finance her gambling habit at casinos across Nevada. We continue to offer our prayers for all impacted by this matter.. For Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, the rest of her mortal life will be decided in a few short weeks. For a period of 10 years starting in 2008, Kreuper embezzled money from St. James Catholic School where she was the school's principal, a position she held for 28 years. According to The New York Times, the 79-year-old retired nun was just recently charged with wire fraud and money laundering. 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. "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. Officials said that they carried out an internal audit as a matter of routine, since the school was about to get new leadership. He holds dual bachelor's degrees from Pace University and a master's degree from New York University. 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. A routine audit upon her retirement raised "several red . We do know that they had a pattern of going on trips. Mary Margaret Kreuper, 80, of Los Angeles, was also ordered to pay $825,338 in restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, was sentenced to one year and one day for fraud and money laundering. She'd taught fifth grade at Our Lady of Las Vegas . The disgraced nun stole hundreds of thousands of . Kreupers crimes occurred during her role as the schools principal, a position from which she retired in 2018. She is very sorry for any harm she has caused.". Shawn is the son of Linda and Bill Flannery born November 25, 1972 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, 79, was charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering after she admitted to investigators that she embezzled hundreds of thousands of. So there were a considerable number of parents who were very upset and obviously feeling quite betrayed. Ad Choices, That Lying, Gambling, Embezzling Nun Pleads Guilty. 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 I don't look at nuns as ordinary people. Prosecutor said she also admitted to falsifying the schools financial records. Officials in the archdiocese of Los Angeles told parents that they had proof that a Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper and Sister Lana Chang had stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars from the St James Catholic School in Torrance. 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