When Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper became a nun, she took vows to live as Jesus did through chastity, obedience and service to the poor, sick and uneducated. Kreuper originally pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering back in 2021. For years, St. James parents were told that the school was cash-strapped and unable to upgrade textbooks that were 20 years old, fund field trips or simply install an awning for the outdoor lunch area. A federal appeals court ruled against the schools, which appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The DOJ noted that Kreuper had diverted the school funds to pay for expenses that the order [of nuns] would not have approved. Among the expenses Kreuper accrued were those from casinos and credit card charges. My actions were in violation of my vows, my commandments, the law and, above all, the sacred trust that so many had placed in me. But they asserted that the courts should dismiss the cases because the teachers were essentially ministers, and thus were not protected under the federal employment laws. St. James teacher Lana Chang admitted along with Kreuper to the embezzlement in 2018, following each of their retirements earlier that year. (deployads = window.deployads || []).push({}); (function() { Kreuper as the school's principal, handled all tuition payments, with the sister depositing checks into a separate . At least I hope you do.. Kreuper, who pleaded guilty last summer to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II to pay more than $825,000 in restitution. Other parents remarked it was well-known that Kreuper and Chang traveled often and went gambling, with the two women claiming they were gifted the trips by a rich relative. These nuns took a vow of poverty and said, oh no, weve got a rich uncle, one parent told the Press-Telegram. "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. Sister Mary Margaret was caught in 2018. Each time, Kreuper had the same response to the community, according to the Times: How do you expect to pay for it? All the while, Kreuper spoke openly about her gambling trips, saying her vice principals wealthy relatives funded the casino excursions to Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe, prosecutors say. 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 used tuition fees and donations to a California Catholic school to subsidize her casino expenses. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison, months after she admitted to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from St. James Catholic School in Torrance . 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. But. The Archdiocese appears to have now changed course-with ABC Newsreporting a criminal case may now be in the works following deepening investigations. In total, across a period of 10 years, Kreuper siphoned $835,339 from the school's accounts. (Shutterstock) LOS ANGELES, CA The retired principal of a Catholic . She really didnt stay true to it at all, actually. According to Newstalk.com, the school indicated in a letter to parents at the time that they did not want to pursue criminal charges against the duo, after they both expressed "desire and inten[t] to make complete restitution to St. James School.". As headteacher at St James Catholic School, which she ran for 28 years, she "controlled accounts at a credit union, including a savings account for the school and one established to pay the living expenses of the nuns employed by the school", prosecutors said. But this week, prosecutors said Sister Mary Margaret, 79, had agreed to plead guilty to stealing more than. As a Catholic nun, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper had taken a vow of poverty. She must give up the right to control or benefit from personal property and commits herself to live interdependently within a community. A spokesperson with St. James did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. 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. Kreuper became principal at St. James Catholic School in 1990, a position she held for 28 years until her retirement in September 2018. The scheme was uncovered during an audit after Kreuper retired in 2018. 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. Kreuper took fellow nuns on some of those trips and spent thousands of the primary school's money. Parents said the two nuns were big on moral. Those reports were accurate, and we are issuing a rating of "True.". 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, Marge Graf, an attorney representing St. James, told a group of parents at a meeting in 2018. Instead of sitting in the Supreme Court chamber, though, Biel, like the rest of us, will be at home listening. Each of the counts carries a maximum sentence of 40 years behind bars. 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The auditor found that tuition checks, fees and donations were being deposited into a bank account not used by the school. The Greatest Food Debates Of All Time, Answered Pineapple On Pizza? It was only after she vacated her position that school officials unearthed her fraudulent scheme. "You don't want the government deciding who teaches religion we don't do that in this country that's why we have an establishment clause," says Rassbach. 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. They say she also instructed employees at the school to alter and destroy financial records during a school audit, investigators found. Her husband, Darryl Biel, remembers that day vividly. In June 2021, Mary Margaret Kreuper, a Catholic nun in the Los Angeles congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, entered into a plea agreement with the U.S. District Attorney's Office for the Central District of California, whereby she committed to pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, and admitted taking part in a 10-year scheme to defraud St. James' Catholic School, an elementary school in Torrance, California, where she had served as principal for 28 years, to the amount of $835,000. We've received your submission. The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet confirm that today the judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles has sentenced our Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, CSJ to one year and one day in federal prison followed by two years' supervised release. In December of that year, fraud allegations emerged against her and another nun, Sister Lana Chang, who had taught at the school. Kreuper signed the plea agreement, which Snopes has obtained and which can be read in full here, on June 2, 2021. It wasnt until the house of cards came crashing down that she realized what she had done and started to go therapy, where she realized this addiction was a contributing factor. 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). Were those functions to be considered ministerial, Fisher says, the results would be dire. Southern California authorities have revealed two nuns allegedly embezzling up to $500K which was parlayed into gambling jaunts in Las Vegas. Kreuper was in charge of the schools credit union account, where she was meant to deposit cash and checks from tuition, fees and donations. The rich uncle was the parents of the St. James students.. Trust shouldnt be broken like that., Others, such as Kevin Kearns, whose son had gone to the school, said the nun had put the students and parents above everything else., The church tells us to forgive those who have trespassed against us, Kearns said. Prosecutors said that she had also instructed school employees to alter and destroy financial records. In doing so, she agreed to plead guilty to: The money laundering charge relates to an episode in 2017, in which Kreuper improperly deposited checks from parents of pupils at the school into a convent bank account, rather than the school's bank account, then later used the convent account to write a $6,000 check to another unnamed person who subsequently cashed the check and gave Kreuper $6,000 in cash "so she could gamble in Nevada.". It is "telling," in these cases, he says, that the "teachers did not even have to be Catholic to have these jobs.". In 2012, the Supreme Court sought to answer that question, agreeing unanimously that a fourth-grade teacher who was commissioned as a minister could not sue over her firing by a Lutheran school. 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. Ultimately, "they are not people we understand to be spiritual leaders of the church.". She was also entrusted with overseeing the St. James Covenant Account, a savings account that funded the living expenses of the nuns who worked at the school, the indictment against her states. If Kreuper has no prior criminal history, under federal sentencing guidelines the sentencing range should be between 41 and 57 months (between around three-and-a-half and five years), though the court will have the final say in her punishment. Well, Sister Mary Margaret didnt quite stay true to her vow. 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.. For more information about our use of cookies, our collection, use, and disclosure of personal information generally, and any rights you may have to access, delete, or opt out of the sale of your personal information, please view our Privacy Policy. Kobe Bryant's widow awarded nearly $29m after police shared photos of helicopter crash, Doctors recommend end-of-life decision for Saving Private Ryan actor Tom Sizemore, Ramon Escobar: Serial murderer suspected of killing prison inmate. 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. Kreuper retired as principal of St. James' Catholic School in 2018, after holding that position for 28 years. His . "I wanted to face them. In June 2021, several local, national, and international news outlets reported that a nun in California had admitted, and was preparing to plead guilty to, embezzling $835,000 from the Catholic school she ran for three decades. Sister Mary is not full of grace. 1995 - 2023 by Snopes Media Group Inc. The principal allegedly withheld some of the checks and deposited them into the other account, endorsing the back with a stamp that read, St. 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 Kreuper, 80, was sentenced on Monday to 12 months and one day in federal prison by U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II and ordered to pay $825,338 in restitution to the St. James Catholic School in Torrance, California . This article was published more than1 year ago. Copyright 2008-2023 BroBible. 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, the statement said, adding that she has been suffering from a mental illness that clouded her judgment. When the fraudulent behavior first came to light, the order was deeply disappointed and offered to repay the lost funds only believed to be $500,000 at the time. But somewhere along the line, you just ran completely off the road, and I think you understand that. Sister Mary Margarets lawyers said that she is very remorseful, and has been suffering from a mental illness that clouded her judgement and caused her to do something that she otherwise would not have done.. She also controlled two savings accounts, one for the school and one for the nuns living expenses. Two nuns who formerly worked at St. James Catholic School in Torrance, California, confessed to embezzling at least $500,000 from the school so that they could gamble it away at Las Vegas casinos, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles said at a meeting with parents and alumni on Monday. After taking a vow of poverty, her excuse for lavish gambling expenses is hilarious. Chief Justice John Roberts announced the opinion from the bench, noting that the teacher who brought the case was not a lay teacher. She faces up to 40 years in federal prison, but is claiming mental illness. 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. Is A Hot Dog A Sandwich? In June 2021, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper admitted to embezzling $835,000 from the Catholic school where she served as principal for 28 years. She was the principal and had been colluding with longtime teacher Sister Lana Chang on the operation, per the Daily Breeze. The fraud was discovered after an internal investigation at the end of the same year. The embezzlement helped to fuel her gambling habit. The church body in the case commissions teachers as ministers, but does not ordain them. In a statement to The Washington Post, Kreupers lawyers said she is very remorseful and sorry for any harm she has caused. Maryland man, 52, sues bar over ban cause he was old Missouri daughter secretly donates kidney to ailing dad. Her husband, Darryl Biel, remembers that day vividly. He had planned to be in Washington for Monday's argument. Church officials said they did not wish to press charges against the sisters, who both expressed remorse. var zergnet = document.createElement('script'); That was the first clue that unraveled a significant scheme. Because the funds were to be restored, the archdiocese decided not to press criminal charges. Sister Kreuper who took a vow of poverty confessed to using the embezzled funds to pay for personal expenses, including her gambling habit. BroBible is the #1 place on the internet for the very best content from the worlds of sports, culture, gear, high tech, and more. We do know that they had a pattern of going on trips. 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