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. 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. Ultimately, "they are not people we understand to be spiritual leaders of the church.". One parent told the outlet of the situation: "It's crazy. All rights reserved. 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. The schools, "have never asserted that either of [the teachers] fell short in any religious duty or adherence to the faith," he says. 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"https:" : "http:") + '//www.zergnet.com/zerg.js?id=47402'; 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.". Sister Mary Margaret became a nun when she turned 18 in 1960 and took a vow of poverty. 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 Kreuper retired as principal of St. James' Catholic School in 2018, after holding that position for 28 years. However, the church chose not to press charges against the two nuns. Kreuper is due in court on 1 July and faces up to 40 years in federal prison. Investigators determined the money went to accounts the school didnt know about, Kumar said. 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. Kreuper falsified monthly and annual reports to cover up her crime and asked school employees to alter and destroy financial records during an audit. An old unused bank account was the giveaway. 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. 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 . The principal allegedly withheld some of the checks and deposited them into the other account, endorsing the back with a stamp that read, St. Meyers reported it to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, who hired their own auditor. All they needed to do was get through the school year. They say she also instructed employees at the school to alter and destroy financial records during a school audit, investigators found. These nuns took a vow of poverty and said, Oh no, weve got a rich uncle, parent Jack Alexander said. 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 . Mary Margaret Kreuper, 80, of Los Angeles, pleaded guilty in July to federal wire fraud and money laundering charges. Kreuper as the school's principal, handled all tuition payments, with the sister depositing checks into a separate . 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.. 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.". 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. Church officials said they did not wish to press charges against the sisters, who both expressed remorse. Months after Kreuper admitted to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars, the 80-year-old was sentenced on Monday to a year and a day in federal prison. Kreuper, he said, quoting an expert, was addicted to gambling, adding that it "is not an excuse for what she did merely an explanation". In June 2021, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper admitted to embezzling $835,000 from the Catholic school where she served as principal for 28 years. I don't drink coffee, I wake up jacked. The first teacher, Agnes Morrissey-Berru, claimed her employment contract was not renewed after 16 years service because of illegal age discrimination. The Rev. The school soon had a change of heart following pushback. Police will still present the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office, NBC reported. Those reports were accurate, and we are issuing a rating of "True.". It's very disturbing. The vow leads a nun to imitate Jesus, who for our sake became poor, although he was rich. 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. Similar articles were published by the Los Angeles Times, KTLA, and Unilad.co.uk. 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. var znscr = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; Mary Margaret Kreuper (Image source: KTTV-TV video screenshot). 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.. St. James teacher Lana Chang admitted along with Kreuper to the embezzlement in 2018, following each of their retirements earlier that year. 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. 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. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, 79,of Los Angeles, was charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering on Tuesday for defraudingSt. James Catholic Schoolover a period of 10 years. This material may not be reproduced without permission. Pic: St James Catholic School. Kreuper was 18 years old when she took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, her lawyers told the Post. Kreuper, who had taken a vow of poverty as a nun, worked as a principal at St. James Catholic School in Torrance for 28 years and allegedly embezzled the funds for 10 years until her retirement in 2018. She is expected to report to prison by June, Byrne said, and will be released in 2023. By signing up to the Blaze News newsletter you agree to receive electronic communications from Blaze Media that may sometimes include advertisements or sponsored content. "She doesn't have anywhere to go," he said. Now, nearly three years later, she faces up to 40 years in prison and will appear in the Federal District Court in Los Angeles on July 1. The exception extends to religiously affiliated institutions when they fire employees who serve in a religious capacity akin to that of a minister. At the sentencing hearing, those who spoke were split on their feelings toward the nun and what she had done. This time the question is whether lay teachers at parochial schools are exempt from the nation's fair employment laws. Of course, at 79, the likelihood that Sister Mary Margaret will see any jail time is relatively slim. She then used some of the funds to pay for "large gambling expenses incurred at casinos and certain credit card charges.. 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. But somewhere along the line, you just ran completely off the road, and I think you understand that. As principal of St. James Catholic School, she oversaw the money the school received to pay for tuition and fees as well as charitable donations. Sister Lana Chang, a vice principal who was initially implicated in the scheme, was not charged. 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. Make sure you see our stories daily directly to your inbox. 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. Sister Mary Margaret and Sister Lana were in the clear. 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." 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". However, around the same time, a family at the school asked for an old check they had written to St. James. 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. 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. Nuns should realize that just by living their lives and living the way they do and treating people the way they do, they affect children for the rest of their lives, the judge said, according to the Los Angeles Times. (RNS) Recently Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, a Catholic nun who stole $835,000 from a Catholic elementary school in Torrance, California, was sent to prison for a year and ordered to pay the . Mark Byrne, Kreupers attorney, told The Post his client had accepted the judges one-year prison sentence, even if they were pushing for probation. Apparently, the Vegas trips were common knowledge, but the nuns explained that the gambling excursions were gifts from a rich uncle. 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. We do know they had a pattern of going to casinos, and the reality is, they used the account as their personal account, an attorney told parents and alumni at Mondays meeting. But as the archdiocese was completing its audit, it noticed something was off with the funding. 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.". She doesn't have any money. 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. 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. In total, across a period of 10 years, Kreuper siphoned $835,339 from the school's accounts. 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. 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. 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. She is looking forward to getting on with life and will get treatment for her gambling addiction, he said. 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. The tuition checks and funds sent to St. James Catholic School between 2008 and 2018 that were stolen by Kreuper equaled the tuition of 14 different students per year, prosecutors said. 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.. 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. The fraud was discovered after an internal investigation at the end of the same year. Shes very, very remorseful and very ashamed, he said. Starting in 2008, Kreuper diverted school funds to pay for expenses that the order would not have approved, much less paid for, prosecutors say. One article quoted a church accountant as ball-parking the amount at $500,000. American sister stole money from accounts she controlled as a headteacher and used it to pay off credit card charges and "large gambling expenses incurred at casinos". 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. All rights reserved. She really didnt stay true to it at all, actually. 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. St.James Catholic School caught embezzling $500K for personal use, including gambling as church declines to press charges. Her embezzlement activities took place from about 2008-2018. When staff members finally found the check, they realized that it was not deposited in a St. James account, but a different bank account. In December of that year, fraud allegations emerged against her and another nun, Sister Lana Chang, who had taught at the school. Kumar said the nuns instruction to the auditors sparked suspicion, and they reported the incident to Msgr. But the court's eventual decision could reach beyond teachers, affecting the lives of millions of other employees who work for religiously affiliated institutions. But, Fisher counters, that "this isn't something you measure with a stopwatch." 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. 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. Dan Mac Guill is a former writer for Snopes. Mr Kumar said that jealousy played a part, calling the episode "really an abuse of position of trust". The 80-year-old nun pleaded for mercy after stealing $835,339 from an elementary Catholic school to fund her gambling addiction.. Earlier in June, the former principal of St. James School was charged with wire fraud and money laundering. The auditor found that tuition checks, fees and donations were being deposited into a bank account not used by the school. 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. 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