sister mary margaret kreupersister mary margaret kreuper

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. James School, before tapping the funds for personal use. The St. James Catholic Church school in Torrance, California, on February 7, 2022. 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 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". Rassbach will tell the Supreme Court that not everyone who works at a religious school or institution is exempt from these laws. We do know that they had a pattern of going on trips. A Los Angeles nun jailed for stealing more than $800,000 to fund a gambling habit has admitted "I have sinned". Earlier in June, the former principal of St. James School was charged with wire fraud and money laundering. Kreuper also admitted to falsifying monthly and annual reports to the school administration in an effort to cover up the embezzlement. Since 2014, The Marshall Project has been curating some of the best criminal justice reporting from around the web. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper used tuition fees and donations to a California Catholic school to subsidize her casino expenses. 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 . Also implicated in the scheme was Lana Chang, who worked as a teacher at St. James before becoming vice principal. 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. The purpose is to protect leaders of the faith, and their religions, from interference by the government. Sister Mary Margaret became a nun when she turned 18 in 1960 and took a vow of poverty. A retired nun has admitted to embezzling $835,000 over 10 years from a Catholic school in California to fund her gambling habit, according to federal prosecutors. In the process, Kreuper falsified monthly and annual reports to the St. James 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, according to court documents. Kristen Biel would return to teaching elsewhere while fighting her case in court, but in June 2019, she died. Kreuper took fellow nuns on some of those trips and spent thousands of the primary school's money. var znscr = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; 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. Kreuper was in charge of the schools credit union account, where she was meant to deposit cash and checks from tuition, fees and donations. Investigators determined the money went to accounts the school didnt know about, Kumar said. It involves two fifth-grade teachers at Catholic schools in California. She spent the next 59 years of her life dedicated to the church, they said. Her attorney said Kreuper will be on supervised release for two years once her prison sentence is complete. During the time period this was happening, she had no idea this was happening. His wife, he said, drove into their driveway "in tears bawling hysterically. Apparently, the Vegas trips were common knowledge, but the nuns explained that the gambling excursions were gifts from a rich uncle. 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 80-year-old nun also was ordered to pay a total of. The scheme was uncovered during an audit after Kreuper retired in 2018. She became principal at St. James Catholic School, about 20 miles outside downtown Los Angeles, in 1990. "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. Meyers reported it to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, who hired their own auditor. Of course, at 79, the likelihood that Sister Mary Margaret will see any jail time is relatively slim. Kreuper is due in court on 1 July and faces up to 40 years in federal prison. })(); 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. The nuns order says the woman are cooperating and intend to pay all of the money back in full. But how do we define who is a minister and who is not? 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. "https:" : "http:") + '//www.zergnet.com/zerg.js?id=47402'; When the fraudulent behavior first came to light, the order was deeply disappointed and offered to repay the lost funds only believed to be $500,000 at the time. A federal appeals court ruled against the schools, which appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. 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. 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. 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". Many parents were outraged with the initial decision not to press charges, with some remarking that if the nuns were lay people, they would certainly be in jail according to the presstelegram. 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 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 decade, the Press-Telegram reported. We do know that they had a pattern of going on trips, we do know they had a pattern of going to casinos, and the reality is, they used the account as their personal account, Marge Graf, an attorney representing St. James, told a group of parents at a meeting in 2018. In a statement to the Washinton Post her attorneys, Mark A. Byrne and Daniel V. Nixon, said she is very remorseful and sorry for any harm she has caused.. James Convent instead of St. 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. Kreuper signed the plea agreement, which Snopes has obtained and which can be read in full here, on June 2, 2021. There is another, and rather rich, twist to one of the cases before the court Monday. 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. They say she also instructed employees at the school to alter and destroy financial records during a school audit, investigators found. 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. 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.. 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. LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) Mary Margaret Kreuper, a now-retired nun who was the principal of St. James Catholic School in Torrance, has agreed to plead guilty to fraud and money laundering charges. A Los Angeles nun recently pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $800,000. At Monday's argument, Stanford law professor Jeff Fisher, who is representing the teachers, will tell the justices that by the terms of the teachers' contracts and the school handbooks, these teachers were hired to teach academic subjects. She was so hurt that they could be doing this to her.". But Fisher notes that the schools in these cases do not claim any religious reason for firing the teachers. Maryland man, 52, sues bar over ban cause he was old Missouri daughter secretly donates kidney to ailing dad. One article quoted a church accountant as ball-parking the amount at $500,000. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 claimed that she was fired after she told her superior, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. By signing up to the Blaze News newsletter you agree to receive electronic communications from Blaze Media that may sometimes include advertisements or sponsored content. Officials pointed out that Kreuper had taken a vow of poverty as a nun. ", "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. 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.". Monday's case, however, does not involve trained and ordained ministers of the faith. Kreuper admitted embezzling about $835,000 (616,000) in donations, tuition and fee money between 2008 and 2018. Rather, he said, she is religiously trained and a commissioned minister of the church. We use cookies to better understand website visitors, for advertising, and to offer you a better experience. All they needed to do was get through the school year. She really didnt stay true to it at all, actually. At the time, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet imposed restrictions on the two women, writing in a news release that: "The two Sisters are removed from all public ministry. zergnet.type = 'text/javascript'; zergnet.async = true; St.James Catholic School caught embezzling $500K for personal use, including gambling as church declines to press charges. I wanted to see them. The auditor found that tuition checks, fees and donations were being deposited into a bank account not used by the school. It's just that you have to look and see what kind of function are they doing.". An old unused bank account was the giveaway. Her husband said that in her final days, the couple talked extensively about the case. On June 9, for example, Fox News reported that: A retired Los Angeles nun will plead guilty to embezzling $835,000 from the elementary school where she worked in order to cover her gambling habits and other personal expenses, officials said this week. znscr.parentNode.insertBefore(zergnet, znscr); 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. They dont want you to see this Big Tech does its best to limit what news you see. 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.. 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. Mary Margaret Kreuper was so close to getting away with it. All rights reserved. Kreuper as the school's principal, handled all tuition payments, with the sister depositing checks into a separate . 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. 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. "She doesn't have anywhere to go," he said. We've received your submission. When staff members finally found the check, they realized that it was not deposited in a St. James account, but a different bank account. Sister Mary Margaret was caught in 2018. Chief Justice John Roberts announced the opinion from the bench, noting that the teacher who brought the case was not a lay teacher. These nuns took a vow of poverty and said, oh no, weve got a rich uncle, one parent told the Press-Telegram. Kreuper retired as principal of St. James' Catholic School in 2018, after holding that position for 28 years. Parents said the two nuns were big on moral. We use cookies to better understand website visitors, for advertising, and to offer you a better experience. 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. Prosecutors had recommended a 24-month prison sentence, three years of . 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