Sister Kreuper who took a vow of poverty confessed to using the embezzled funds to pay for personal expenses, including her gambling habit. Of course, at 79, the likelihood that Sister Mary Margaret will see any jail time is relatively slim. 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.". Each of the counts carries a maximum sentence of 40 years behind bars. The embezzlement helped to fuel her gambling habit. The St. James Catholic Church school in Torrance, California, on February 7, 2022. The account was opened in 1997 but had not been used in years, until Sister Mary Margaret started diverting checks into the forgotten account. G7 summit - Biden brings 1.2m Cadillac The Beast but will it fit down Cornwalls tiny country lanes. 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. The rich uncle was the parents of the St. James students.. 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. The exception extends to religiously affiliated institutions when they fire employees who serve in a religious capacity akin to that of a minister. German cardinal offers to resign over sexual abuse catastrophe, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. All rights reserved. She became principal at St. James Catholic School, about 20 miles outside downtown Los Angeles, in 1990. 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. To know that she had been taking money from my parents and my peers parents the whole time I was there is extremely shocking, and it sways me away from the Catholic Church, Garunkstis said. 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.. According to prosecutors, Kreuper admitted that she falsified monthly and annual reports to the school 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.. Kristen Biel would return to teaching elsewhere while fighting her case in court, but in June 2019, she died. Asking for the nun to be spared from prison, her lawyer Mark Byrne told the court she has been kept under "severe restrictions" at a convent by the nuns in her order. 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. According to prosecutors, Kreuper had stolen whats estimated to have been the tuition for 14 students at the K-8 school in funds that were intended to further the students education, not fund [Kreupers] lifestyle., When confronted, the defendant admitted to stealing the money, Kumar said. Kreuper originally pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering back in 2021. Mr Kumar said that jealousy played a part, calling the episode "really an abuse of position of trust". 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. 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.. 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. There is another, and rather rich, twist to one of the cases before the court Monday. "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. For the second time in as many weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court is tackling a major religion case. After taking a vow of poverty, her excuse for lavish gambling expenses is hilarious. 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, 80, admitted stealing the money from St James Catholic School in the L.A. suburb of Torrance, where she was school principal for nearly 30 years. In the audio, as well as in a previous Web version, of this story, we incorrectly say the fourth-grade teacher in a 2012 case was ordained as a minister. 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.". 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. However, around the same time, a family at the school asked for an old check they had written to St. James. She is looking forward to getting on with life and will get treatment for her gambling addiction, he said. By Colin Groundwater June 9, 2021 Two summers ago, Sean Flynn reported a wild story for GQ about two very. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, who was principal of St. James Catholic School in Torrance, California, used the school funds to . I wanted to see them. It's very disturbing. She is expected to report to prison by June, Byrne said, and will be released in 2023. This article was published more than1 year ago. A federal appeals court ruled against the schools, which appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, of Los Angeles, was sentenced Monday to one year and one day for fraud and money laundering charges. They and their Order pray that you have not lost trust or faith in the educators and administrators of the school. Monday's case, however, does not involve trained and ordained ministers of the faith. Maryland man, 52, sues bar over ban cause he was old Missouri daughter secretly donates kidney to ailing dad. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper A curated collection of links The Record What are records? Kreuper, he said, quoting an expert, was addicted to gambling, adding that it "is not an excuse for what she did merely an explanation". During his sentencing, Wright, a 2007 appointee under President George W. Bush, praised Kreuper for her tenure as one heck of a teacher at the school. "Requiring a church to accept or retain an unwanted minister or punishing a church for failing to do so intrudes upon more than a mere employment decision," Roberts said. Its an explanation.. 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. 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. 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. A NUN is set to plead guilty to embezzling more than $830,000 from the Catholic elementary school she ran to bankroll her gambling habit, prosecutors say. The 80-year-old nun pleaded for mercy after stealing $835,339 from an elementary Catholic school to fund her gambling addiction.. Julija Garunkstis, a St. James mother who attended the school between 2005 and 2014, said Kreuper had shaken her faith. "She's 80. Similar articles were published by the Los Angeles Times, KTLA, and Unilad.co.uk. We do know that they had a pattern of going on trips. 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. 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 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. 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. 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. Pic: St James Catholic School. The sisters later confessed to using the funds for themselves. 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. When staff members finally found the check, they realized that it was not deposited in a St. James account, but a different bank account. 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. Ultimately, "they are not people we understand to be spiritual leaders of the church.". 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 I promised her I would see this through," he says. She betrayed the trust of people in the community, the parents, students, the archdiocese and the sisters. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper and Sister Lana Chang were seen as two of the strictest nuns at St James Catholic School in Torrance, California. She called her crimes a "violation of my vows, my commandments, the law and, above all, the sacred trust that so many had placed in me". You can be proud of that, he said. News of the indiscretions led to the archdiocese and the church announcing they wouldnt file criminal charges against the nuns after apologizing for their actions. She really didnt stay true to it at all, actually. Shes very, very remorseful and very ashamed, he said. The pair confessed to using the funds for gambling excursions to Las Vegas and other spending sprees. A now-retired nun has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $800,000 from the St. James Catholic School in Torrance, California, from 2008 to 2018, the last decade of her 28-year tenure as principal of the institution. The archdiocese of Los Angeles said in statement that the community of faith at St James was shocked and saddened by these actions and expressed gratitude to local and federal law enforcement agencies for their work in the investigation of this matter. Rather, he said, she is religiously trained and a commissioned minister of the church. Nun who stole $835K from school to fund gambling habit is going to prison: I have sinned, Carolyn Hax: Boyfriends visits leave single mom with no time for herself, Miss Manners: What to do when a fellow diner was rude to server. This time the question is whether lay teachers at parochial schools are exempt from the nation's fair employment laws. But Fisher notes that the schools in these cases do not claim any religious reason for firing the teachers. 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. At least I hope you do.. 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. In a statement to The Washington Post, Kreupers lawyers said she is very remorseful and sorry for any harm she has caused. But. After much public outcry to pursue legal action, the archdiocese hired a former FBI agent to investigate the two nuns. His . She must give up the right to control or benefit from personal property and commits herself to live interdependently within a community. Wright acknowledged in court that while he struggled to judge Kreuper, a decorated principal, on the worst thing that shes done in her life, the impact nuns have on young people in leading by example is crucial and the nuns actions gambled away that guiding principle. 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. Instead, the school's principal, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, 79, was stealing the money and using it to bankroll her gambling habit, federal prosecutors said, violating her vow of poverty. I wanted them to see me," he says "and I just pray that the justices see the right way.". zergnet.src = (document.location.protocol == "https:" ? The auditor found that tuition checks, fees and donations were being deposited into a bank account not used by the school. 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. She spent the next 59 years of her life dedicated to the church, they said. The two would skim money off of the top through separate school bank accounts and then head out to Vegas and put it into the casinos. 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. But how do we define who is a minister and who is not? Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper admits to stealing over $835k from a Catholic School. It is "telling," in these cases, he says, that the "teachers did not even have to be Catholic to have these jobs.". Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper had taken a vow of poverty. Mary Margaret Kreuper was so close to getting away with it. She wanted more than she had.. 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.". When she announced she was retiring in September 2018, the archdiocese conducted a financial review for the incoming principal. 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 . 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. "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. All rights reserved. When first confronted, Mr Kumar said, the nun claimed she "did it in part because she believes priests get paid better than nuns". 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