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. ", Church says nuns embezzled from SoCal school to cover Vegas gambling tripswww.youtube.com. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper A curated collection of links The Record What are records? She was the principal and had been colluding with longtime teacher Sister Lana Chang on the operation, per the Daily Breeze. 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". It involves two fifth-grade teachers at Catholic schools in California. By that math, Sister Mary Margaret was only 66 when the behavior began. 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. After taking a vow of poverty, her excuse for lavish gambling expenses is hilarious. But Fisher notes that the schools in these cases do not claim any religious reason for firing the teachers. Investigators determined the money went to accounts the school didnt know about, Kumar said. She also controlled two savings accounts, one for the school and one for the nuns living expenses. She claimed that she was fired after she told her superior, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. 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 originally pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering back in 2021. For decades, lower courts have recognized an exception to the nation's employment laws for ministers. Julija Garunkstis, a St. James mother who attended the school between 2005 and 2014, said Kreuper had shaken her faith. 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. 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. znscr.parentNode.insertBefore(zergnet, znscr); The scheme was uncovered during an audit after Kreuper retired in 2018. When she announced she was retiring in September 2018, the archdiocese conducted a financial review for the incoming principal. You can be proud of that, he said. Sister Mary is not full of grace. Church officials said they did not wish to press charges against the sisters, who both expressed remorse. It's just that you have to look and see what kind of function are they doing.". After much public outcry to pursue legal action, the archdiocese hired a former FBI agent to investigate the two nuns. She is looking forward to getting on with life and will get treatment for her gambling addiction, he said. 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.". She then used some of the funds to pay for "large gambling expenses incurred at casinos and certain credit card charges.. 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. By Megan Carpentier. Prosecutors say the nun also ordered school employees to alter and destroy financial records during the audit. Mark Byrne, Kreupers attorney, told The Post his client had accepted the judges one-year prison sentence, even if they were pushing for probation. She would endorse the checks with a stamp saying St. Mary Margaret Kreuper was so close to getting away with it. German cardinal offers to resign over sexual abuse catastrophe, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. At the sentencing hearing, those who spoke were split on their feelings toward the nun and what she had done. They added that "later in her life, she has been suffering from a mental illness that clouded her judgment and caused her to do something that she otherwise would not have done.. Kreuper stole the funds over the course of ten years, ending in 2018. This time the question is whether lay teachers at parochial schools are exempt from the nation's fair employment laws. The fraud was discovered after an internal investigation at the end of the same year. Mary Margaret Kreuper, 79, was charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering on Tuesday and has agreed to a plea deal, according to a release from the U.S. attorneys office for the Central District of California. Kreuper retired as principal of St. James' Catholic School in 2018, after holding that position for 28 years. At the heart of this dispute is the First Amendment ban on government establishment of religion and the separation of church and state. Kreuper also admitted to falsifying monthly and annual reports to the school administration in an effort to cover up the embezzlement. 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. But, Fisher counters, that "this isn't something you measure with a stopwatch." He had planned to be in Washington for Monday's argument. "These teachers taught the Catholic faith to these kids more than the parish priest," putting them squarely within the so-called ministerial exception, he says. Its an explanation.. In total, across a period of 10 years, Kreuper siphoned $835,339 from the school's accounts. Your membership is the foundation of our sustainability and resilience. "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.". 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. 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. She's obviously not employable.". 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.. She claimed that she was fired after she told her superior, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. zergnet.src = (document.location.protocol == "https:" ? Dan Mac Guill is a former writer for Snopes. 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.". St. James teacher Lana Chang admitted along with Kreuper to the embezzlement in 2018, following each of their retirements earlier that year. 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 schools, "have never asserted that either of [the teachers] fell short in any religious duty or adherence to the faith," he says. 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. On. A Los Angeles nun jailed for stealing more than $800,000 to fund a gambling habit has admitted "I have sinned". The Torrance Police Department, the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation conducted the investigation into the allegations against Kreuper. The Archdiocese appears to have now changed course-with ABC Newsreporting a criminal case may now be in the works following deepening investigations. The nuns order says the woman are cooperating and intend to pay all of the money back in full. 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. 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. 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. 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. A spokesperson with St. James did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. It was only after she vacated her position that school officials unearthed her fraudulent scheme. 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.". Kreuper, who took vows of poverty at age 18 and spent 59 years in the religious order, said in her plea agreement that she had begun diverting money from the schools tuition and donation account to a savings account that funded the living expenses of the nuns who worked at the school and then used some of the money herself. 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. Make sure you see our stories daily directly to your inbox. It's very disturbing. Those reports were accurate, and we are issuing a rating of "True.". Sister Mary Margaret and Sister Lana were in the clear. I wanted them to see me," he says "and I just pray that the justices see the right way.". 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. 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. 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. 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.. Meyers reported it to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, who hired their own auditor. The sisters later confessed to using the funds for themselves. 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. The two holy women were eventually caught out after a recent audit. var zergnet = document.createElement('script'); He said he could not bring himself to judge Kreuper solely on "the worst thing that she's done in her life", the LA Times said. Also implicated in the scheme was Lana Chang, who worked as a teacher at St. James before becoming vice principal. Kreuper did not recognize she had a gambling problem until she was accused of embezzling more than $835,000 from the school, Byrne said. zergnet.type = 'text/javascript'; zergnet.async = true; The now-retired nun (I didnt know nuns could retire) admitted to stealing about $835,000 in donations, tuition and fees. Copyright 2008-2023 BroBible. 2023 Blaze Media LLC. 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. If these teachers are exempt, he adds, then millions of employees are automatically exempt from laws enacted by Congress to protect workers, simply because they perform some duty their employer considers religious. She doesn't have any money. This was a manifestation of greed, Kumar said, adding that the nun had abused the trust of the community. She faces up to 40 years in federal prison, but is claiming mental illness. But how do we define who is a minister and who is not? The schools denied that Morrissey-Berru and Biel were fired for discriminatory reasons. Rather, he said, she is religiously trained and a commissioned minister of the church. 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. Mr Kumar said that jealousy played a part, calling the episode "really an abuse of position of trust". (Shutterstock) LOS ANGELES, CA The retired principal of a Catholic . Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com. 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. At least I hope you do.. 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 . Kreuper was 18 years old when she took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, her lawyers told the Post. The sisters, described as best friends, both retired earlier this year. Sister Mary Margaret was caught in 2018. 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. "She's 80. "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 pair said in a joint statement. 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. That was the first clue that unraveled a significant scheme. 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. 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.". Local 10 Newsreported Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper and Sister Lana Chang of St.James Catholic School(both retiring earlier this year) using money from the schools funds to live a life of luxury over the last ten years. 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". (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 . Advice for the relationships in your life and how to boost your own well-being. Her husband, Darryl Biel, remembers that day vividly. She really didnt stay true to it at all, actually. He added, Its not meant as an excuse. A Los Angeles nun recently pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $800,000. Claiming mental illness at her age is a play for probation or the ability to serve her sentence at home. The 80-year-old nun pleaded for mercy after stealing $835,339 from an elementary Catholic school to fund her gambling addiction.. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, of Los Angeles, was sentenced Monday to one year and one day for fraud and money laundering charges. The second suit was brought by Kristen Biel against St. James School in Torrance. During the time period this was happening, she had no idea this was happening. 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. Associate Editor at BroBible covering all five major sports and every niche sport imaginable, found primarily in the college space. Kreuper as the schools principal, handled all tuition payments, with the sister depositing checks into a separate account that she and Chang had access to. All rights reserved. 2022 Blaze Media LLC. She is set to be arraigned in court on July 1. Her attorney said Kreuper will be on supervised release for two years once her prison sentence is complete. Officials made the discovery in June after performing a routine audit following Kreupers retirement. Poonam Kumar, the assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California who prosecuted the case, told The Washington Post that Kreuper had diverted checks and cash from St. James parents into a long-overlooked church account to pay for large gambling expenses incurred at casinos and certain credit-card charges. The actions were done before the money could be accounted for, displaying repetitive and deceptive behavior, over and over again, the prosecutor said. I don't drink coffee, I wake up jacked. But this week, prosecutors said Sister Mary Margaret, 79, had agreed to plead guilty to stealing more than. Chief Justice John Roberts announced the opinion from the bench, noting that the teacher who brought the case was not a lay teacher. Kreuper was 18 years old when she took her vow of poverty, according to her lawyers, and spent the next 59 years of her life dedicated to the church. Starting in 2008, Kreuper diverted school funds to pay for expenses that the order would not have approved, much less paid for, prosecutors say. We've received your submission. Of course, at 79, the likelihood that Sister Mary Margaret will see any jail time is relatively slim. In her plea agreement, Sister Mary Margaret confirmed that the stolen money was used for credit card charges and large gambling expenses incurred at casinos. the U.S. attorneys office said. His findings unraveled the entire scheme and, eventually, federal charges were levied against Sister Mary Margaret. 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. I promised her I would see this through," he says. 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. 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. Her embezzlement activities took place from about 2008-2018. 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. 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. Prosecutors had recommended a 24-month prison sentence, three years of . 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. Mary Margaret Kreuper was so close to getting away with it. Ultimately, "they are not people we understand to be spiritual leaders of the church.". In December of that year, fraud allegations emerged against her and another nun, Sister Lana Chang, who had taught at the school. 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. Kreuper was in charge of the schools credit union account, where she was meant to deposit cash and checks from tuition, fees and donations. 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. All they needed to do was get through the school year. I wanted to see them. However, around the same time, a family at the school asked for an old check they had written to St. James. "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. var znscr = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; The two announced their retirement at the same time and were on their way out in 2018. })(); Adriana Kuch attackers identified on social media in planned attack, St Louis execution shooting of homeless man: arrest made, Karen calls cops on black men shovelling snow for free outsider her home, Idaho murder suspect had multiple photos of female victim on phone, Torrance Catholic school nuns steal $500K for gambling habit- church resists charges. 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 . 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. 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. 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. (deployads = window.deployads || []).push({}); (function() { The Greatest Food Debates Of All Time, Answered Pineapple On Pizza? James Convent, not St. 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. Officials pointed out that Kreuper had taken a vow of poverty as a nun. 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. "I have sinned," Sister Mary told a US . Kreuper admitted embezzling about $835,000 (616,000) in donations, tuition and fee money between 2008 and 2018. 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 falsified monthly and annual reports to cover up her crime and asked school employees to alter and destroy financial records during an audit. 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. She just enjoyed gambling, he said. She, too, retired in 2018. 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, he said, quoting an expert, was addicted to gambling, adding that it "is not an excuse for what she did merely an explanation". We do know that they had a pattern of going on trips. She became principal at St. James Catholic School, about 20 miles outside downtown Los Angeles, in 1990. 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. 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. I was wrong, and Im profoundly sorry for the pain and suffering Ive caused so many people., Despite her vow of poverty, nun stole more than $835,000 from a Catholic school, prosecutors said. School didnt know about, Kumar said 800,000 to fund her gambling addiction know about, Kumar said only... 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