She admitted to taking a total of $835,000 in donations from the elementary school, and faces up to 40 years in federal prison. The judge settled on a prison sentence of one year and a day and also ordered Kreuper to pay back the money she had stolen from the school. In a statement to the Washinton Post her attorneys, Mark A. Byrne and Daniel V. Nixon, said she is very remorseful and sorry for any harm she has caused.. Sister Mary Margaret was making bank (very illegally) through laundering and threw everyone off of the scent by reminding them of her vow of poverty. Sister Mary Margaret and Sister Lana were both Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. 2020 THE SUN, US, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY | YOUR AD CHOICES | SITEMAP, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, 79,of Los Angeles, was charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, She defrauded St. James Catholic Schoolover a period of 10 years, As principal, Kreuper had been in charge of the school's credit union account, where she was meant to deposit cash and checks from tuition, fees and donations, Also implicated in the scheme was Lana Chang, who worked as a teacher at St. James before becoming vice principal, Nun, 79, STOLE $835,000 from Catholic school over 10 years to fund her gambling trips, Teenage boy shot friend, 15, in face with his grandad's shotgun after 'being repeatedly humiliated and bullied by him', Apple pie could be CANCELED after writer links treat to genocide and cultural appropriation, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have 'done nothing but seek publicity' since leaving UK, former Palace aide claims, Woman, 21, records terrifying moment Uber driver relentlessly pesters her for sex despite her telling him 'no', Inside Bidens 30million G7 ring of steel with warships, The Beast & 400 Secret Service agents watching his every move, Murder probe scuppered after alligator makes off with dead body found floating in river, JBSA Lackland put on lockdown after shooting outside Air Force base in San Antonio. The first teacher, Agnes Morrissey-Berru, claimed her employment contract was not renewed after 16 years service because of illegal age discrimination. The Greatest Food Debates Of All Time, Answered Pineapple On Pizza? Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, who worked as the school principal for 28 years, and Sister Lana Chang, a teacher at the school for 20 years, reportedly bilked the funds over a period of at least a . Kreuper has agreed to plead guilty to the charges in a deal with prosecutors, the US Attorney's Office of California said in a statement. But she appreciates the outpouring of support shes received from people who have decided that rather to judge her on these actions toward the end of her career and life, theyve taken her whole life into consideration.. He said he could not bring himself to judge Kreuper solely on "the worst thing that she's done in her life", the LA Times said. 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. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper used tuition fees and donations to a California Catholic school to subsidize her casino expenses. The church body in the case commissions teachers as ministers, but does not ordain them. Ive used this to teach my son that were all human, we all make mistakes, but the power of forgiveness is the most powerful tool that we have.. Apparently, the Vegas trips were common knowledge, but the nuns explained that the gambling excursions were gifts from a rich uncle. Mary Kreuper: Nun who stole $835,000 to fund gambling habit admits 'I have sinned', Sister Mary Kreuper embezzled more than 600,000 from the school where she worked. We do know that they had a pattern of going on trips. This article was published more than1 year ago. After much public outcry to pursue legal action, the archdiocese hired a former FBI agent to investigate the two nuns. The Daily Caller | 1775 Eye Street NW | Suite 1150-290 | Washington, DC 20006. Similar articles were published by the Los Angeles Times, KTLA, and Unilad.co.uk. Kristen Biel would return to teaching elsewhere while fighting her case in court, but in June 2019, she died. Parents and alumni of St. James told KTTV-TV in late 2018 that they hoped the school followed through with pursuing criminal complaints against Kreuper and Chang. Prosecutors had recommended a 24-month prison sentence, three years of . 2022 Blaze Media LLC. We use cookies to better understand website visitors, for advertising, and to offer you a better experience. Officials made the discovery in June after performing a routine audit following Kreupers retirement. An elderly nun who pleaded guilty to embezzling from a Catholic school to fund her own gambling trips has been sentenced to a year in federal prison. Mary Margaret Kreuper (Image source: KTTV-TV video screenshot). Make sure you see our stories daily directly to your inbox. Image Via Scott Varley/Digital First Media/ Torrance Daily Breeze via Getty Images. On Monday night, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles told parents and alumni at a meeting that Sisters Mary Margaret Kreuper and Lana Chang, described as best friends, took around $500,000 from St . You can be proud of that, he said. Her husband, Darryl Biel, remembers that day vividly. An old unused bank account was the giveaway. The 80-year-old nun pleaded for mercy after stealing $835,339 from an elementary Catholic school to fund her gambling addiction.. She is expected to report to prison by June, Byrne said, and will be released in 2023. She became principal at St. James Catholic School, about 20 miles outside downtown Los Angeles, in 1990. Local 10 News reported Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper and Sister Lana Chang of St.James Catholic School (both retiring earlier this year) using money from the school's funds to live a life of luxury over the last ten years. Police will still present the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office, NBC reported. I have sinned, I have broken the law and I have no excuses, Kreuper told the judge during her hearing, according to the Los Angeles Times. At the heart of this dispute is the First Amendment ban on government establishment of religion and the separation of church and state. "I wanted to face them. 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The principal allegedly withheld some of the checks and deposited them into the other account, endorsing the back with a stamp that read, St. "https:" : "http:") + '//www.zergnet.com/zerg.js?id=47402'; Jaclyn Peiser contributed to this report. It's very disturbing. A retired nun has admitted to embezzling $835,000 over 10 years from a Catholic school in California to fund her gambling habit, according to federal prosecutors. The exception extends to religiously affiliated institutions when they fire employees who serve in a religious capacity akin to that of a minister. Ultimately, he argues, the schools consider the teachers to be performing an important religious function, and therefore, they can be fired for any reason because they are not subject to the nation's fair employment laws. 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. Mark Byrne, Kreupers attorney, told The Post his client had accepted the judges one-year prison sentence, even if they were pushing for probation. 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 . Her attorney said Kreuper will be on supervised release for two years once her prison sentence is complete. The Torrancepair used the money for vacations and gambling at the casino while telling parents that the school was on a tight budget. A Los Angeles nun jailed for stealing more than $800,000 to fund a gambling habit has admitted "I have sinned". In her plea agreement, Sister Mary Margaret confirmed that the stolen money was used for credit card charges and large gambling expenses incurred at casinos. the U.S. attorneys office said. In the process, Kreuper falsified monthly and annual reports to the St. James administration to cover up her fraudulent conduct and 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 court documents. "Millions of people across the country who never thought or understood themselves to be leaders of the faith" would now "magically have no employment protections," he says. Court documents show that she also oversaw the St. James Convent Account, a savings account that funded the living expenses of the nuns who worked at the school. She is looking forward to getting on with life and will get treatment for her gambling addiction, he said. At the sentencing hearing, those who spoke were split on their feelings toward the nun and what she had done. The money she stole was used to pay off credit card charges and "large gambling expenses incurred at casinos", the US attorney's office said. Its an explanation.. Cyclist falls to her death after drawbridge opens while shes on it, Trump tells Joe Rogan to stop apologizing for Spotify controversies, Frozen out of GoFundMe, Canadian protest convoy raises millions on Christian sit. The schools, "have never asserted that either of [the teachers] fell short in any religious duty or adherence to the faith," he says. 2023 Blaze Media LLC. Were those functions to be considered ministerial, Fisher says, the results would be dire. Yes, a Nun Has Admitted to Embezzling $835,000 from a Catholic School Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper has been charged with wire fraud and money laundering for her role in a scheme to defraud a. They have been removed from their residence, placed in a religious house under the supervision of community leadership, and their freedom of movement is confined.". 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. Rather, he said, she is religiously trained and a commissioned minister of the church. Investigators described a system in which Kreuper handled all checks made out to the school for tuition and fees before handing them over to bookkeeping staff for processing. Each of the counts carries a maximum sentence of 40 years behind bars. But as the archdiocese was completing its audit, it noticed something was off with the funding. When this was going on, she was not nearly as old. Told one parent, We were an ATM, and people know it and they wont ask for justice., The embezzlement and the churchs seeming reluctance to act has led to some locals saying the scandal underscores a failure of church leadership- while also noting that only a police investigation can be trusted.. 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. Parents said the two nuns were big on moral. If these teachers are exempt, he adds, then millions of employees are automatically exempt from laws enacted by Congress to protect workers, simply because they perform some duty their employer considers religious. 5 Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, 79, of Los Angeles, was charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering Credit: KCAL 9 5 Prosecutors said that she had also instructed school employees to alter and destroy financial records. Around the same time, a St. James parent asked question at a school meeting about an old tuition check that had an endorsement on the back of check that did not line up with the schools primary account, the prosecutor said. 1995 - 2023 by Snopes Media Group Inc. Though he acknowledges that the teachers taught religion from a workbook about three hours a week, Fisher says these teachers were "primarily lay employees" teaching "secular subjects. ", "Just as teaching science out of a fifth-grade textbook doesn't make them scientists, teaching religion for 40 minutes a day out of a workbook doesn't make them ministers," he says. She claimed that she was fired after she told her superior, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. znscr.parentNode.insertBefore(zergnet, znscr); Poonam Kumar, the assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California who prosecuted the case, told The Washington Post that Kreuper had diverted checks and cash from St. James parents into a long-overlooked church account to pay for large gambling expenses incurred at casinos and certain credit-card charges. The actions were done before the money could be accounted for, displaying repetitive and deceptive behavior, over and over again, the prosecutor said. Mary Margaret Kreuper was so close to getting away with it. But somewhere along the line, you just ran completely off the road, and I think you understand that. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, who worked as the school principal for 28 years, and Sister Lana Chang, a teacher at the school for 20 years, reportedly bilked the funds over a period of at least a decade, the Press-Telegram reported. Although, formally speaking, Kreuper could face a punishment of up to 40 years in prison, it's unlikely she will receive such a long sentence. As outlined in her plea agreement, beginning in 2008, Kreuper began depositing tuition checks and donations into the school's account and then diverted the money into the covenant account. 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 card payments, the authorities said. While claiming to live financially destitute like Jesus Christ is probably blasphemous, using the old Im poor, but my uncle is rich line and getting away with it speaks to Sister Mary Margarets impressive poker face. It's just that you have to look and see what kind of function are they doing.". At Monday's argument, Stanford law professor Jeff Fisher, who is representing the teachers, will tell the justices that by the terms of the teachers' contracts and the school handbooks, these teachers were hired to teach academic subjects. Five of the nine justices hearing Monday's case attended Catholic secondary schools, and several of them have sent their children to parochial schools as well. The embezzlement helped to fuel her gambling habit. Kreuper, who took vows of poverty at age 18 and spent 59 years in the religious order, said in her plea agreement that she had begun diverting money from the schools tuition and donation account to a savings account that funded the living expenses of the nuns who worked at the school and then used some of the money herself. Officials pointed out that Kreuper had taken a vow of poverty as a nun. 66 is still a fairly competent age. Sister Mary Margaret and Sister Lana have expressed to me and asked that I convey to you, the deep remorse they each feel for their actions and ask for your forgiveness and prayers, Meyers wrote in a letter to parents on Nov. 28. According to the outlet, "Kreuper acknowledged diverting money to pay for personal expenses that included credit card charges and 'large gambling expenses incurred at casinos,' the U.S. attorney's office said.". Also implicated in the scheme was Lana Chang, who worked as a teacher at St. James before becoming vice principal. He argued that while the money she stole might have affected the schools funding, her actions didnt decrease the quality of education students received at St. James. She then used some of the funds to pay for "large gambling expenses incurred at casinos and certain credit card charges.. Prosecutors say the nun also ordered school employees to alter and destroy financial records during the audit. Shes very, very remorseful and very ashamed, he said. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, the retired principal of St. James Catholic School in California, has been sentenced to one year and a day in prison on charges of money laundering and federal wire. After taking a vow of poverty, her excuse for lavish gambling expenses is hilarious. Along with her sentence, she was ordered to pay $825,338 in restitution. 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