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, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. The purpose is to protect leaders of the faith, and their religions, from interference by the government. 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. However, the church chose not to press charges against the two nuns. The Greatest Food Debates Of All Time, Answered Pineapple On Pizza? By Megan Carpentier. A Los Angeles nun recently pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $800,000. By Colin Groundwater June 9, 2021 Two summers ago, Sean Flynn reported a wild story for GQ about two very. Cyclist falls to her death after drawbridge opens while shes on it, Trump tells Joe Rogan to stop apologizing for Spotify controversies, Frozen out of GoFundMe, Canadian protest convoy raises millions on Christian sit. Kreuper admitted embezzling about $835,000 (616,000) in donations, tuition and fee money between 2008 and 2018. Kreuper took fellow nuns on some of those trips and spent thousands of the primary school's money. The Rev. Kreuper was 18 years old when she took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, her lawyers told the Post. 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. While claiming to live financially destitute like Jesus Christ is probably blasphemous, using the old Im poor, but my uncle is rich line and getting away with it speaks to Sister Mary Margarets impressive poker face. His findings unraveled the entire scheme and, eventually, federal charges were levied against Sister Mary Margaret. She just enjoyed gambling, 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. The two announced their retirement at the same time and were on their way out in 2018. Mary Kreuper: Nun who stole $835,000 to fund gambling habit admits 'I have sinned', Sister Mary Kreuper embezzled more than 600,000 from the school where she worked. But the court's eventual decision could reach beyond teachers, affecting the lives of millions of other employees who work for religiously affiliated institutions. 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. Her husband said that in her final days, the couple talked extensively about the case. US District Court Judge Otis Wright acknowledged his own anguish in deciding a punishment to fit the crime, saying "I haven't slept well in God knows how long" as he rejected prosecutors' call for a two-year sentence. 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. Jaclyn Peiser contributed to this report. When she announced she was retiring in September 2018, the archdiocese conducted a financial review for the incoming principal. I have sinned, Ive broken the law and I have no excuses, Kreuper said at the sentencing over Zoom. 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). After much public outcry to pursue legal action, the archdiocese hired a former FBI agent to investigate the two nuns. 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. She was so hurt that they could be doing this to her.". Sister Mary Margaret and Sister Lana have expressed to me and asked that I convey to you, the deep remorse they each feel for their actions and ask for your forgiveness and prayers, Meyers wrote in a letter to parents on Nov. 28. 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. 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. ", "Just as teaching science out of a fifth-grade textbook doesn't make them scientists, teaching religion for 40 minutes a day out of a workbook doesn't make them ministers," he says. "She's 80. 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. When first confronted, Mr Kumar said, the nun claimed she "did it in part because she believes priests get paid better than nuns". Kreuper was principal at the school for 28 years. 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. Make sure you see our stories daily directly to your inbox. His wife, he said, drove into their driveway "in tears bawling hysterically. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper used tuition fees and donations to a California Catholic school to subsidize her casino expenses. The principal allegedly withheld some of the checks and deposited them into the other account, endorsing the back with a stamp that read, St. St.James Catholic School caught embezzling $500K for personal use, including gambling as church declines to press charges. The pair confessed to using the funds for gambling excursions to Las Vegas and other spending sprees. She is expected to report to prison by June, Byrne said, and will be released in 2023. The nuns order says the woman are cooperating and intend to pay all of the money back in full. 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. Mary Margaret Kreuper (Image source: KTTV-TV video screenshot). When first confronted by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper blamed the gender pay gap and said she deserved a raise because "priests get paid better than nuns". She would endorse the checks with a stamp saying St. "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. 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. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, who was principal of St. James Catholic School in Torrance, California, used the school funds to pay for personal expenses, including gambling trips, according to the release. 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. Meyers reported it to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, who hired their own auditor. She really didnt stay true to it at all, actually. Recap: Court Weighs Whether Religious Schools Can Fire Lay Workers, Listen Live: Supreme Court Arguments Schedule, Top 5 Moments From The Supreme Court's 1st Week Of Livestreaming Arguments, Fervor Vs Compromise At Supreme Court Birth Control Arguments, Supreme Court Arguments A Tech Success, But Format Strangles Usual Give-And-Take, Supreme Court Considers Anti-Prostitution Pledge In HIV/AIDS Funding Case. Investigators determined the money went to accounts the school didnt know about, Kumar said. Thanks for contacting us. Along with her sentence, she was ordered to pay $825,338 in restitution. Similar articles were published by the Los Angeles Times, KTLA, and Unilad.co.uk. On. I wanted to see them. This article was published more than1 year ago. 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. 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. At the sentencing hearing, those who spoke were split on their feelings toward the nun and what she had done. All rights reserved. In December of that year, fraud allegations emerged against her and another nun, Sister Lana Chang, who had taught at the school. In a statement to The Washington Post, Kreupers lawyers said she is very remorseful and sorry for any harm she has caused. 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. Kreuper signed the plea agreement, which Snopes has obtained and which can be read in full here, on June 2, 2021. Instead of sitting in the Supreme Court chamber, though, Biel, like the rest of us, will be at home listening. She is set to be arraigned in court on July 1. 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.. Associate Editor at BroBible covering all five major sports and every niche sport imaginable, found primarily in the college space. Michael Meyers, the pastor at St. James Church. 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. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, who was principal of St. James Catholic School in Torrance, California, used the school funds to . A federal appeals court ruled against the schools, which appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Sister Mary Margaret became a nun when she turned 18 in 1960 and took a vow of poverty. All rights reserved. Kreuper did not recognize she had a gambling problem until she was accused of embezzling more than $835,000 from the school, Byrne said. 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. We use cookies to better understand website visitors, for advertising, and to offer you a better experience. 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. 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). All rights reserved. Her husband, Darryl Biel, remembers that day vividly. The Daily Caller | 1775 Eye Street NW | Suite 1150-290 | Washington, DC 20006. The embezzlement helped to fuel her gambling habit. 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. The nun took frequent gambling trips to Las Vegas and holidays to Lake Tahoe and other locations in southern California, according to Poonam Kumar, the assistant US attorney. Although, formally speaking, Kreuper could face a punishment of up to 40 years in prison, it's unlikely she will receive such a long sentence. Mary Margaret Kreuper, 80, of Los Angeles, was sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to pay $825,338 in restitution. Of course, at 79, the likelihood that Sister Mary Margaret will see any jail time is relatively slim. Indeed, he observes, they would be exempt not just from anti-discrimination laws, but also laws that protect individuals from retaliation when they report misbehavior to authorities, and laws imposing wage and hour regulations. She was the principal and had been colluding with longtime teacher Sister Lana Chang on the operation, per the Daily Breeze. Also implicated in the scheme was Lana Chang, who worked as a teacher at St. James before becoming vice principal. 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. 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. Sister Mary Margaret was caught in 2018. She then used some of the funds to pay for "large gambling expenses incurred at casinos and certain credit card charges.. Since 2014, The Marshall Project has been curating some of the best criminal justice reporting from around the web. Mary Margaret Kreuper was so close to getting away with it. Chief Justice John Roberts announced the opinion from the bench, noting that the teacher who brought the case was not a lay teacher. They say she also instructed employees at the school to alter and destroy financial records during a school audit, investigators found. Parents said the two nuns were big on moral. (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 . "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. Advice for the relationships in your life and how to boost your own well-being. The first teacher, Agnes Morrissey-Berru, claimed her employment contract was not renewed after 16 years service because of illegal age discrimination. "I wanted to face them. 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.". 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. It turns out that at the time Kristen Biel learned she had breast cancer, Kreuper, the school principal who fired her, was embezzling large amounts of money to go on gambling sprees in Las Vegas. One article quoted a church accountant as ball-parking the amount at $500,000. This time the question is whether lay teachers at parochial schools are exempt from the nation's fair employment laws. Maybe if she had used her poker face to see more success in Vegas, she wouldnt have been in this position to begin with. During the time period this was happening, she had no idea this was happening. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper A curated collection of links The Record What are records? Rassbach will tell the Supreme Court that not everyone who works at a religious school or institution is exempt from these laws. 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. The rich uncle was the parents of the St. James students., The school monsignor has since sent out a letter in which the nuns asked that i convey to you the deep remorse they each feel for their actions and ask for your forgiveness and prayers.. But as the archdiocese was completing its audit, it noticed something was off with the funding. Get the news that matters most delivered directly to your inbox. Its an explanation.. Kreuper stole the funds over the course of ten years, ending in 2018. She betrayed the trust of people in the community, the parents, students, the archdiocese and the sisters. 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". There is another, and rather rich, twist to one of the cases before the court Monday. Earlier in June, the former principal of St. James School was charged with wire fraud and money laundering. You can be proud of that, he said. 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. 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. Sister Lana Chang, a vice principal who was initially implicated in the scheme, was not charged. 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. Monday's case, however, does not involve trained and ordained ministers of the faith. 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 . 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.". Your membership is the foundation of our sustainability and resilience. German cardinal offers to resign over sexual abuse catastrophe, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. Shes very, very remorseful and very ashamed, he said. One parent told the outlet of the situation: "It's crazy. The sisters later confessed to using the funds for themselves. 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. 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. She claimed that she was fired after she told her superior, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. The auditor found that tuition checks, fees and donations were being deposited into a bank account not used by the school. They have been removed from their residence, placed in a religious house under the supervision of community leadership, and their freedom of movement is confined.". The St. James Catholic Church school in Torrance, California, on February 7, 2022. The scheme was uncovered during an audit after Kreuper retired in 2018. A spokesperson with St. James did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Prosecutors said that she had also instructed school employees to alter and destroy financial records. Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com. 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.. (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images). Sister Mary is not full of grace. Eric Rassbach of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, who is representing the schools before the court, disagrees. 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". Kreuper originally pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering back in 2021. The Torrance Police Department, the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation conducted the investigation into the allegations against Kreuper. She wanted more than she had.. 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. As a Catholic nun, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper had taken a vow of poverty. 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. But. This large chunk of stolen money came as the St. James Catholic School was operating under tight budgets with small concerns that the finances could not continue to keep the door open. 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. She claimed that the salary differential between nuns and priests meant she was owed this money, which is inconsistent with the vow of poverty she took.. At least I hope you do.. Kreuper pleaded guilty last July. 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. At least, thats where they caught her. James School.. Sister Kreuper who took a vow of poverty confessed to using the embezzled funds to pay for personal expenses, including her gambling habit. 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. Court documents show that she also oversaw the St. James Convent Account, a savings account that funded the living expenses of the nuns who worked at the school. James School, before tapping the funds for personal use. He had planned to be in Washington for Monday's argument. znscr.parentNode.insertBefore(zergnet, znscr); The judges sentencing came as detractors and supporters showed up over Zoom to testify against or pledge their support for Kreuper, who had been a nun for 62 years. Julija Garunkstis, a St. James mother who attended the school between 2005 and 2014, said Kreuper had shaken her faith. For decades, lower courts have recognized an exception to the nation's employment laws for ministers. 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. It's very disturbing. "Such action interferes with the internal governance of the church, depriving the church of control over the selection of those who will personify its beliefs.". zergnet.type = 'text/javascript'; zergnet.async = true; This material may not be reproduced without permission. Were those functions to be considered ministerial, Fisher says, the results would be dire. The rich uncle was the parents of the St. James students.. Ultimately, "they are not people we understand to be spiritual leaders of the church.". 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 . 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 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. 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. I don't drink coffee, I wake up jacked. 66 is still a fairly competent age. 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. She must give up the right to control or benefit from personal property and commits herself to live interdependently within a community. All they needed to do was get through the school year. Michael Meyers, the churchs monsignor, said Kreuper was very nervous and anxious during the audit and she reportedly asked staff members to change school records. An old unused bank account was the giveaway. But how do we define who is a minister and who is not? 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. The account was opened in 1997 but had not been used in years, until Sister Mary Margaret started diverting checks into the forgotten account. 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.Sister Kreuper who took a vow of poverty confessed to using the . Kreuper also admitted to falsifying monthly and annual reports to the school administration in an effort to cover up the embezzlement. This was a manifestation of greed, Kumar said, adding that the nun had abused the trust of the community. 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. It involves two fifth-grade teachers at Catholic schools in California. On Monday night, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles told parents and alumni at a meeting that Sisters Mary Margaret Kreuper and Lana Chang, described as best friends, took around $500,000 from St . 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