Elderly Nun Embezzled $835K For Gambling In Vegas

Via press release from the Justice Department:

Federal prosecutors today filed charges against a now-retired nun who was the principal of a Catholic elementary school in Torrance and who has agreed to plead guilty to fraud and money laundering charges for stealing more than $835,000 in school funds to pay for personal expenses, including gambling trips.

Mary Margaret Kreuper, 79, of Los Angeles, was charged today with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. In conjunction with the criminal information, prosecutors filed a plea agreement in which Kreuper agreed to plead guilty to the two charges that carry a maximum statutory penalty of 40 years in federal prison.

Kreuper, who as a nun had taken a vow of poverty, diverted school funds into the St. James Convent Account and the St. James Savings Account and then, as she admitted in her plea agreement, used the diverted funds “to pay for expenses that the order would not have approved, much less paid for, including large gambling expenses incurred at casinos and certain credit card charges.”

A nun pleaded guilty to stealing $835,000 from a school and gambling it away in Las Vegas.

While the Church decided not to press charges, the feds investigated Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, 79, who was the school principal.https://t.co/Lnpn2PYqq1

— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) June 9, 2021