An 80-year-old nun is on her way to prison after she was caught stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the school treasury.
On Monday, February 7, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper was sentenced to prison in California after the court ruled her guilty of stealing over $835,000 out of an elementary school’s treasury to pay off her high gambling debts.
Court records show that Kreuper purposely diverted donations and tuition fees into a personal savings account while working as the principal at St. James Catholic School located in Torrance, Los Angeles. The embezzlement took place for over a decade between 2008 and 2018.
ABC7 reports that she used the money to fund her wild gambling splurges and trips to casinos.
The US Attorney’s office explained how the nun falsified monthly and annual reports as a way of hiding her “fraudulent conduct. ”
Kreuper even ordered deputies at the school to alter or destroy financial records right before her school was audited so there would be no trace of her crimes.
However, the nun would eventually confess in 2021 after pleading guilty to a single count of wire fraud and money laundering.
Judge Otis D. Wright II sentenced Kreuper to serve a year in prison during a virtual hearing on Monday and ordered that she pay back $825,338 in restitution.
But, prosecutors recommend a much more severe sentence of 24 months and three years of supervised release, according to ABC7.
The disgraced nun and former principal addressed the court via video.
You can watch a video about this story below.
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