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. 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. 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. 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. She alone will face criminal charges. The nuns apparently told everyone that a rich uncle was paying for their trips. For Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, the rest of her mortal life will be decided in a few short weeks. CA: 2 Nuns Accused of Stealing Substantial Amount of Money From South Bay Catholic School. 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. news, guides, reviews and information since 1995. Two nuns have admitted to embezzling money from the Catholic school where they worked and using the cash to fund gambling sprees. Mary Margaret Kreuper, principal of St. James Catholic School in Torrance, Calif., until 2018, was charged with stealing more than $835,000 in school funds to pay for personal expenses, including gambling trips. The nun was in charge of overseeing tuition money, fees the school received and charitable donations, prosecutors said. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper and Sister Lana Chang of St.James Catholic School caught embezzling $500K for personal use, including gambling as church declines to press charges. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper and Sister Lana Chang were seen as two of the strictest nuns at St James Catholic School in Torrance, California. 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. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper admitted embezzling $835,000 from St James Catholic School in the LA suburb of Torrance. 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. Most of the funds she blew on gambling trips to Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe with her friend and housemate, Sister Lana Chang. 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. 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). Heres what you need to know: An internal investigation found that over several years, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper and Sister Lana Chang used funds set aside for St. James Catholic School. 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 Sister Lana taught there for 20 years. Kreuper pleaded guilty in July to federal wire fraud and money laundering charges. Kreuper acknowledged that for a period of 10 years ending in September 2018, she embezzled $835,339 from St. James Catholic School. Kreupers crimes occurred during her role as the schools principal, a position from which she retired in 2018. 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. When Mary Margaret Bartock was born about 1938, her father, Steve, was 39, and her mother, Elizabeth, was 29. pic.twitter.com/Gcbn0WRky5, Karen Devine (@KarenDevineKESQ) December 11, 2018. The embezzlement helped to fuel her gambling habit. He holds dual bachelor's degrees from Pace University and a master's degree from New York University. At the time of Flynns reporting, St. James School estimated the two women embezzled around $500,000. The diocese had initially called the police, but after the nuns confessed they said they wouldnt press charges against the nuns. She'd taught fifth grade at Our Lady of Las Vegas . Kreuper's attorney Mark Byrne explained that his client, who retired in 2018, has been under strict supervision at her convent. Archdiocese lawyer Marge Graf said the nuns' order agreed to pay the school full restitution and impose "severe sanctions" on Kreuper and Chang. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper of Los Angeles will serve one year, and one day, behind federal prison bars for fraud and money laundering charges. At the time, the church and archdiocese said that they would not press criminal charges against either woman. 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Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. 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. 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. 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. Kreuper claimed she had a rich uncle who paid for the trips. She further admitted "lulling St. James School and the administration into believing that the school's finances were being properly accounted for and its financial assets properly safeguarded," which allowed her to maintain access to the school's finances. Principal, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, and teacher Sister Lana Chang. Kreuper was the schools principal for 29 years. 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. 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. 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. As a Catholic nun, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper had taken a vow of poverty. There have been calls among some parents for the pair to be charged while others said they should be forgiven. Its unclear what will happen to Chang, or whether shes even involved in any ongoing investigation. 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. She had reportedly worked there for 20 years before both retired in 2018, shortly before their scandal was revealed. 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. Thanks for contacting us. Retired nun pleads guilty to embezzling $835,000 from school, in part to finance gambling. Sister Mary Margaret became a nun when she turned 18 in 1960 and took a vow of poverty. 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. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. 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. They were able to get away with it because the school was doing so well, financially, that nobody ever missed the money. the dead priest whose DNA could help solve a nuns decades-old murder, the Missouri nun who smuggled two pounds of cocaine. The lawyers added that she has been suffering from a mental illness that clouded her judgment and is very remorseful.. 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In total, it is believed she stole $835,339 at least that authorities are currently aware of. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, of Los Angeles, was sentenced Monday to one year and one day for fraud and money laundering charges. 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. Shawn is the son of Linda and Bill Flannery born November 25, 1972 in Cincinnati, Ohio. 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. Thats when they started to notice irregularities in the bookkeeping. What are the details? Shawn graduated from Batesville High School in 1991 before attending Ball State University and receiving his BS from . Cloudflare Ray ID: 7a110852986c4083 The nuns funneled hundreds of thousands of fundraising dollars into a shell account to support a gambling habit. It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our father, Richard D. Stabile. 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. Two nuns from California stole funds from the Catholic school they were at and spent in on vacations and gambling. 178.79.131.117 Kreuper even took fellow nuns on some of those excursions and spent thousands of the elementary schools money, Kumar said. To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories. 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. "This is merely an explanation.". In 1940, she was 2 years old and lived in Belmont, Ohio, with her father, mother, 2 brothers, and sister. Performance & security by Cloudflare. Parents said the two nuns were big on moral fortitude and that they were very hard on kids who slipped up and broke the rules. In a statement on Tuesday about Sister Mary Margarets guilty plea, the archdiocese said the revelations had shocked and saddened the community. Mary Margaret Kreuper, a nun who admitted stealing more than $800,000 from St. James Catholic School in Torrance when she was its principal, spent some of the money on trips to Las Vegas and. Of course! Despite taking a vow of poverty, an 80-year-old nun was sentenced on Monday for stealing more than $800,000 to pay for personal expenses, including gambling trips. St. James Catholic SchoolSister Mary Margaret Kreuper embezzled $835,339 in the schools tuition, fees, and charitable donations for her personal expenses. In December 2018, after a meeting with the archdiocese, the Torrance Police Department said that it was dedicating additional staffing to help examine evidence and find people who had submitted tuition checks, account payment information or cash donations. I have sinned, I have broken the law, and I have no excuses, Kreuper said during Mondays hearing, according to the LA Times. 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. 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. Let us pray for our school families and for Sister Mary Margaret and Sister Lana," Myers added . 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. The audit uncovered a long-forgotten account into which Kreuper would divert checks made out to the school. 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). Kreuper, who apologized to the community during Mondays sentencing, also made a Hail Mary plea to the judge for leniency. This snapshot of Mary Margaret Bartock's life was captured by the 1940 U.S. Census. She was the principal. By clicking Accept All Cookies, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. 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. That order has also paid for Kreupers living expenses for multiple decades. 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. Until this last spring, Kreuper was the principal of St. James Catholic School in Torrance and Chang was. Sisters Mary Margaret Kreuper and Lana Chang are believed to have siphoned off cash from tuition fees and donations at St James school in Torrance, near Los Angeles, for at least a decade.. 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 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. Mary was a precocious child. But all the while, they were using school funds to pay for their jaunts. 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. Powered by. As a Catholic nun, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper had taken a vow of poverty. Officials said that they carried out an internal audit as a matter of routine, since the school was about to get new leadership. 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. 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. Two longtime nuns at St. James Catholic School in Torrance allegedly embezzled as much as $500,000 in tuition, fees and donations. We do know that they had a pattern of going on trips. 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). "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. She said that she diverted school funds into the St. James convent account and then into its federal credit union savings account. She confessed to causing losses to St. James Catholic School totaling $835,339 over the course of the scheme, the statement said. ", 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.". GQ may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Kreuper is the schools former principal. They noted that a lay person in the same situation could expect a lengthy prison sentence. Kreuper stole about $83,000 per year, which is the equivalent of tuition for 14 students, prosecutors argued. 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. By Colin Groundwater June 9, 2021 Two summers ago, Sean Flynn reported a wild story for GQ about two very. Her religious order, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, has yet to publicly comment on the matter. "The Sisters of St. Joseph both desire and intend to make complete restitution to St. James School," the Daily Breeze reported. A Los Angeles nun jailed for stealing more than $800,000 to fund a gambling habit has admitted "I have sinned". The action you just performed triggered the security solution. 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. Kreuper and Chang are both members of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. Sister Mary Margaret worked at the school for 29 years. As it stands, the Los Angeles Archdiocese said it was shocked and saddened.. 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? 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. Police said they were still carrying out their own investigation. Besides, both the nuns in question were in positions of trust. 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. 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. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. 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. Sister Mary Margaret was charged on Tuesday with wire fraud and money laundering while she was the principal of St. James Catholic School in Torrance, Calif., the office of the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California said in a statement. A financial review showed a substantial amount of school funds had been misappropriated for personal use by Sister Mary Margaret, it said. 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. 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. 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. The 80-year old nun was ordered to pay $825,338.57 she embezzled while principal at St.. Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times/Getty ImagesSister Mary Kreuper served as the principal at St. James Catholic School in Torrance, California, for 28 years. 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. One man, whose children attend St James, grumbled that the nuns had been using the school as if it was their own private ATM. More on this story First at 10 on Fox. 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. The World's Online Gaming Authority Since 1995, Gambling Nuns Embezzled $500,000 from California School, Blew it On Casino Junkets, Gambling Nun Gets One Year in Prison for Stealing $835k from L.A. "This is not an excuse for what she did," he said. 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. The statement also condemned the embezzlement, saying, we will not defend the actions of our Sisters. 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. Instead, they planned to address the situation internally through the investigation, restitution, and sanctions on the sisters. But that plan changed with the charges recently brought up against Sister Kreuper. 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. The nuns embezzlement first came to light when Sister Mary Margaret was about to retire, according to church officials. 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. 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 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. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper has agreed to plead guilty to charges that she embezzled the money while she was the principal at a Catholic school in Torrance, Calif., prosecutors said. Mary Margaret Kreuper, 80, of Los Angeles, was also ordered to pay $825,338 in restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Kreuper has admitted she took the money and expressed remorse. Nun Stole Over $800,000 to Support Gambling Habit, Prosecutors Say, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/09/us/california-nun-guilty-gambling.html. Sister Mary Margaret admitted to a fraudulent scheme in which she lulled St. James School and the administration into believing that the schools finances were being properly accounted for and its financial assets properly safeguarded, prosecutors said. 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. Would love your thoughts, please comment. Sister Mary Margaret retired in June after 28 years as principal of the K-8 school, which serves students from Torrance and Redondo Beach. Head Nun Caught Stealing Over $800,000 From Catholic Elementary School Where She Worked. 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. This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Torrance and Sister Lana Chang. 'I have sinned': 80-year-old gambling nun jailed after blaming gender pay gap for stealing $800,000 from kids Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper said she stole tuition checks and donations in. Crime & Safety Gambling Nun's Bad 'Habit' Catches Up To Her Catholic school principal Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, 80, was sentenced to prison for embezzling from the school to feed a gambling habit. 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 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 . What happened is wrong. Scott Varley/Torrance Daily Breeze, via Getty Images. Wasnt it weird that she and her friends won every single raffle. According to The New York Times, the 79-year-old retired nun was just recently charged with wire fraud and money laundering. "At our school, we have initiated additional procedures and oversight policies for financial management and reporting responsibilities," Meyers wrote. Ultimately Kreuper admitted to stealing over $835,000. But this week, prosecutors said Sister Mary Margaret, 79, had agreed to plead guilty to stealing more than. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. Your IP: She also controlled the schools credit union accounts, which she used to divert other funds into that she would then use for the spending, according to prosecutors.
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