Elderly nun jailed for gambling hundreds of thousands in school funds away

13th February 2022

An elderly nun has been jailed for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Los Angeles Catholic school, which she used on gambling trips.

Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, who was a principal at St James’ Catholic School in Torrance, California, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison for fraud and money laundering charges, with the 80-year-old also being ordered to pay over $800,000 in restitution for money she laundered while principal.

Kreuper diverted funds sent to the elementary school to pay for expenses including casino trips and credit card charges from 2008 to 2018, which her order, the Sisters of St Joseph of Carondelet, wouldn’t have approved.

© Provided by Extra.ieAn elderly nun has been imprisoned for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Los Angeles Catholic school, which she used on gambling trips. Pic: St James’ Catholic School

Speaking at her sentencing hearing on Monday, Kreuper said ‘I have sinned, I have broken the law, and I have no excuses’. She also called her crimes ‘a violation of my vows, the commandments, the law, and above all the sacred trust that so many had placed in me’.

Assistant US Attorney Poonam Kumar told the New York Post that Kreuper took frequent trips to Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe and other locations around Southern California for gambling trips — some of which other nuns in the order joined her on.

‘One of the things she said when she was first confronted by the L.A. Archdiocese and even before law enforcement got involved, was she did it in part because she believes priests get paid better than nuns’, Mr Kumar said.

© Provided by Extra.ieKreuper was a principal in St James’ Elementary School in Torrance, Los Angeles. Pic: Google Street View

Kreuper, who was principal of the school for 28 years, asked parents to make donations on top of the school’s $6,000 a year tuition fees — which she would then spend on the trips.

‘This was really an abuse of a position of trust’, Mr Kumar said. ‘She was the principal. She was running the school that these parents had chosen to send their children, and not just for the academics.

‘[The parents] wanted to get a Catholic education with the morals and values that they believed in and that they lead their lives in, and that’s what they were looking for in the school’, Mr Kumar continued. ‘So there were a considerable number of parents who were very upset and obviously feeling quite betrayed. There were parents who spoke today about how their kids are no longer affiliated with the church’.

© Provided by Extra.ieKreuper is ordered to pay over $800,000 in restitution, which she spent most on gambling trips to places like Las Vegas. Pic: Raimund Koch/Getty Images

Kreuper was released on her own recognisance, but must surrender to the Federal Bureau of Prisons by July 7. She will be under supervision for two years following her release.