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. Ultimately Kreuper admitted to stealing over $835,000. 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. "Pop Dick Stabile ", as he was known to those who loved . 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. The sisters stole a total of $500,000, or half a million dollars, officials said. 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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. 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. The rest, they were depositing into a separate account and using for their own purposes. Its unclear what will happen to Chang, or whether shes even involved in any ongoing investigation. 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. Sister Kreuper who took a vow of poverty confessed to using the embezzled funds to pay for personal expenses, including her gambling habit. 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. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper and Sister Lana Chang were seen as two of the strictest nuns at St James Catholic School in Torrance, California. They noted that a lay person in the same situation could expect a lengthy prison sentence. 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 Basically, for the last three and a half years, shes been driving her fellow sisters to doctors appointments and things like that. 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 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. 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. She was running the school that these parents had chosen to send their children [to], and not just for the academics. 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, 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. Kreuper pleaded guilty in July to federal wire fraud and money laundering charges. I have sinned, I have broken the law, and I have no excuses, Kreuper said during Mondays hearing, according to the LA Times. 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. At the time, the church and archdiocese said that they would not press criminal charges against either woman. According to local news outlet KTLA5, Kreuper was aided by Sister Lana Chang, who taught eighth grade and was vice-principal at the school. And wasnt it even weirder that she was going to Vegas all the time? 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. The lawyers added that she has been suffering from a mental illness that clouded her judgment and is very remorseful.. 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. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper admits to stealing over $835k from a Catholic School. They were able to get away with it because the school was doing so well, financially, that nobody ever missed the money. Sister Mary Margaret became a nun when she turned 18 in 1960 and took a vow of poverty. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. Principal, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, and teacher Sister Lana Chang. ", 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. As principal, Kreuper was responsible for the money the school garnered in tuition, fees, and charitable donations. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? She said that she diverted school funds into the St. James convent account and then into its federal credit union savings account. As it stands, the Los Angeles Archdiocese said it was shocked and saddened.. Kreuper, who apologized to the community during Mondays sentencing, also made a Hail Mary plea to the judge for leniency. So there were a considerable number of parents who were very upset and obviously feeling quite betrayed. What happened is wrong. 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. 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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One man, whose children attend St James, grumbled that the nuns had been using the school as if it was their own private ATM. The two Sisters are removed from their residence and placed in a religious house under the supervision of community leadership. Sister Mary Kreuper served as the principal at St. James Catholic School in Torrance, California, for 28 years. 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. There have been calls among some parents for the pair to be charged while others said they should be forgiven. Let us pray for our school families and for Sister Mary Margaret and Sister Lana," Myers added . Your IP: "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. But somewhere along the line, you just ran completely off the road, and I think you understand that. Most of the money came from school fundraisers; some came from a tuition hike. She'd taught fifth grade at Our Lady of Las Vegas . Sister Mary Margaret Gambling. 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. 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. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper admits to stealing over $835k from a Catholic School. 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. Of course! . She is scheduled to appear in the Federal District Court in Los Angeles on July 1. 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.". For Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, the rest of her mortal life will be decided in a few short weeks. 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. 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 rich uncle was the parents of the St. James students.. Let the family know you are thinking of them. Eventually, a forensic accountant discovered that there was a half-million dollars missing from the schools accounts. The nuns funneled hundreds of thousands of fundraising dollars into a shell account to support a gambling habit. Margaret Mary Kreuper and Sister Lana Chang were accused of embezzling tuition, fees, and donations made in favor of St. James Catholic School to fund their gambling trips (Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet) Kreuper is also accused of directing St. James School employees to alter and destroy financial records during a school audit. She will be under two years supervision when she is released, Kumar said. This snapshot of Mary Margaret Bartock's life was captured by the 1940 U.S. Census. 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. And for sister Mary Margaret became a nun when she turned 18 1960! 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