A California nun was sentenced to a year and one day in prison for stealing $835,000 from a school where she was principal, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
Mary Margaret Kreuper, 80, pled guilty in July 2021 to money laundering and wire fraud. Kreuper stole the money from St. James Catholic School in Torrance as principal there from 2008 to 2018.
In the plea agreement, Kreuper admitted to embezzling donations, tuitions, and fees, which she used for personal expenses, including credit card charges and gambling expenses. Kreuper will be required to pay the total of $835,000 back to the school as restitution.
Kreuper, who as a nun had taken a vow of poverty, was in charge of managing checking and savings accounts at the school, including living expenses for the other nuns employed by the school. The stolen funds were diverted from these accounts, with Kreuper falsifying financial reports to cover her tracks. Prosecutors added that Kreuper ordered school faculty to destroy reports during at least one audit.
In letters to the court, students and their parents noted the school’s financial difficulties, including lack of funding for field trips.
“I have sinned, I’ve broken the law and I have no excuses,” Kreuper told CBS News. “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. I was wrong, and I’m profoundly sorry for the pain and suffering I’ve caused so many people.”
