sister mary margaret kreuper

All rights reserved. The St. James Catholic Church school in Torrance, California, on February 7, 2022. But Fisher notes that the schools in these cases do not claim any religious reason for firing the teachers. 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. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, 79, was charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering after she admitted to investigators that she embezzled hundreds of thousands of. One parent told the outlet of the situation: "It's crazy. You can be proud of that, he said. By Colin Groundwater June 9, 2021 Two summers ago, Sean Flynn reported a wild story for GQ about two very. But she appreciates the outpouring of support shes received from people who have decided that rather to judge her on these actions toward the end of her career and life, theyve taken her whole life into consideration.. Her attorney said Kreuper will be on supervised release for two years once her prison sentence is complete. The account was opened in 1997 but had not been used in years, until Sister Mary Margaret started diverting checks into the forgotten account. In doing so, she agreed to plead guilty to: The money laundering charge relates to an episode in 2017, in which Kreuper improperly deposited checks from parents of pupils at the school into a convent bank account, rather than the school's bank account, then later used the convent account to write a $6,000 check to another unnamed person who subsequently cashed the check and gave Kreuper $6,000 in cash "so she could gamble in Nevada.". "Millions of people across the country who never thought or understood themselves to be leaders of the faith" would now "magically have no employment protections," he says. It turns out that at the time Kristen Biel learned she had breast cancer, Kreuper, the school principal who fired her, was embezzling large amounts of money to go on gambling sprees in Las Vegas. This article was published more than1 year ago. But Fisher counters that function can't be the only criterion because many employers at religiously affiliated institutions sincerely believe that all of their employees perform important ministerial functions, from nurses who care for the sick, to summer camp counselors for troubled teenagers, and athletic coaches who mold the character of their charges and often lead them in prayer. The Rev. 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. Earlier in June, the former principal of St. James School was charged with wire fraud and money laundering. The purpose is to protect leaders of the faith, and their religions, from interference by the government. Local 10 Newsreported Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper and Sister Lana Chang of St.James Catholic School(both retiring earlier this year) using money from the schools funds to live a life of luxury over the last ten years. Get the news that matters most delivered directly to your inbox. Meyers reported it to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, who hired their own auditor. Kreuper as the schools principal, handled all tuition payments, with the sister depositing checks into a separate account that she and Chang had access to. Now, nearly three years later, she faces up to 40 years in prison and will appear in the Federal District Court in Los Angeles on July 1. According to prosecutors, Kreuper had stolen whats estimated to have been the tuition for 14 students at the K-8 school in funds that were intended to further the students education, not fund [Kreupers] lifestyle., When confronted, the defendant admitted to stealing the money, Kumar said. But how do we define who is a minister and who is not? ", Church says nuns embezzled from SoCal school to cover Vegas gambling tripswww.youtube.com. zergnet.src = (document.location.protocol == "https:" ? In her plea agreement, Sister Mary Margaret confirmed that the stolen money was used for credit card charges and large gambling expenses incurred at casinos. the U.S. attorneys office said. Similar articles were published by the Los Angeles Times, KTLA, and Unilad.co.uk. But as the archdiocese was completing its audit, it noticed something was off with the funding. 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. An elderly nun who pleaded guilty to embezzling from a Catholic school to fund her own gambling trips has been sentenced to a year in federal prison. She admitted to taking a total of $835,000 in donations from the elementary school, and faces up to 40 years in federal prison. The exception extends to religiously affiliated institutions when they fire employees who serve in a religious capacity akin to that of a minister. "She's 80. German cardinal offers to resign over sexual abuse catastrophe, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. Kreuper was 18 years old when she took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, her lawyers told the Post. The pair confessed to using the funds for gambling excursions to Las Vegas and other spending sprees. They say she also instructed employees at the school to alter and destroy financial records during a school audit, investigators found. If these teachers are exempt, he adds, then millions of employees are automatically exempt from laws enacted by Congress to protect workers, simply because they perform some duty their employer considers religious. Investigators determined the money went to accounts the school didnt know about, Kumar said. In June 2021, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper admitted to embezzling $835,000 from the Catholic school where she served as principal for 28 years. Thanks for contacting us. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, the retired principal of St. James Catholic School in California, has been sentenced to one year and a day in prison on charges of money laundering and federal wire. Bank records show Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper and Sister Lana Chang had been embezzling funds from St. James Catholic School in Torrance for at least a decade, the Press-Telegram reported. I have sinned, Ive broken the law and I have no excuses, Kreuper said at the sentencing over Zoom. Kreuper was 18 years old when she took her vow of poverty, according to her lawyers, and spent the next 59 years of her life dedicated to the church. Instead of sitting in the Supreme Court chamber, though, Biel, like the rest of us, will be at home listening. 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. St. James teacher Lana Chang admitted along with Kreuper to the embezzlement in 2018, following each of their retirements earlier that year. In June 2021, several local, national, and international news outlets reported that a nun in California had admitted, and was preparing to plead guilty to, embezzling $835,000 from the Catholic school she ran for three decades. Kreuper has agreed to plead guilty to the charges in a deal with prosecutors, the US Attorney's Office of California said in a statement. As principal, Kreuper had been in charge of the school's credit union account, where she was meant to deposit cash and checks from tuition, fees and donations. I don't drink coffee, I wake up jacked. The vow leads a nun to imitate Jesus, who for our sake became poor, although he was rich. The Los Angeles native embezzled more than $835,000 from the Catholic school in Torrance, Calif., where she was principal to pay for 10 years of personal expenses, including her many gambling trips to Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe, according to federal prosecutors. Also implicated in the scheme was Lana Chang, who worked as a teacher at St. James before becoming vice principal. Because the funds were to be restored, the archdiocese decided not to press criminal charges. Is A Hot Dog A Sandwich? Kreuper, who pleaded guilty last summer to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II to pay more than $825,000 in restitution. "The Gambling Nuns" saga is unlikely to come up at the Supreme Court, but it certainly is on Darryl Biel's mind. The two would skim money off of the top through separate school bank accounts and then head out to Vegas and put it into the casinos. Parents said the two nuns were big on moral. They added that "later in her life, she has been suffering from a mental illness that clouded her judgment and caused her to do something that she otherwise would not have done.. The nuns order says the woman are cooperating and intend to pay all of the money back in full. 2022 Blaze Media LLC. Sister Lana Chang, a vice principal who was initially implicated in the scheme, was not charged. The schools, "have never asserted that either of [the teachers] fell short in any religious duty or adherence to the faith," he says. She doesn't have any money. An 80-year-old nun who gambled away more than $835,000 in school funds was sentenced to twelve months and a day in federal prison Monday, according to a press release from the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). 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. Her husband, Darryl Biel, remembers that day vividly. Let us pray for our school families and for Sister Mary Margaret and Sister Lana, the letter added. In 2012, the Supreme Court sought to answer that question, agreeing unanimously that a fourth-grade teacher who was commissioned as a minister could not sue over her firing by a Lutheran school. Kreuper, he said, quoting an expert, was addicted to gambling, adding that it "is not an excuse for what she did merely an explanation". An old unused bank account was the giveaway. Kreuper, who took vows of poverty at age 18 and spent 59 years in the religious order, said in her plea agreement that she had begun diverting money from the schools tuition and donation account to a savings account that funded the living expenses of the nuns who worked at the school and then used some of the money herself. (deployads = window.deployads || []).push({}); (function() { We do know that they had a pattern of going on trips. 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. This material may not be reproduced without permission. Officials pointed out that Kreuper had taken a vow of poverty as a nun. St.James Catholic School caught embezzling $500K for personal use, including gambling as church declines to press charges. 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.. Sister Mary Margaret and Sister Lana were in the clear. For the second time in as many weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court is tackling a major religion case. She then used some of the funds to pay for "large gambling expenses incurred at casinos and certain credit card charges.. While claiming to live financially destitute like Jesus Christ is probably blasphemous, using the old Im poor, but my uncle is rich line and getting away with it speaks to Sister Mary Margarets impressive poker face. She wanted more than she had.. The scheme was uncovered during an audit after Kreuper retired in 2018. Other parents remarked it was well-known that Kreuper and Chang traveled often and went gambling, with the two women claiming they were gifted the trips by a rich relative. 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. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, 79, a former principal at St James Catholic School in Torrance, California, used tuition fees and donations to subsidize casino gambling expenses and credit card. In December of that year, fraud allegations emerged against her and another nun, Sister Lana Chang, who had taught at the school. After much public outcry to pursue legal action, the archdiocese hired a former FBI agent to investigate the two nuns. Kreuper originally pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering back in 2021. The 80-year-old nun also was ordered to pay a total of. She must give up the right to control or benefit from personal property and commits herself to live interdependently within a community. Instead, the school's principal, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, 79, was stealing the money and using it to bankroll her gambling habit, federal prosecutors said, violating her vow of poverty. She spent the next 59 years of her life dedicated to the church, they said. She was also entrusted with overseeing the St. James Covenant Account, a savings account that funded the living expenses of the nuns who worked at the school, the indictment against her states. 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. She is expected to report to prison by June, Byrne said, and will be released in 2023. 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. Trust shouldnt be broken like that., Others, such as Kevin Kearns, whose son had gone to the school, said the nun had put the students and parents above everything else., The church tells us to forgive those who have trespassed against us, Kearns said. She claimed that she was fired after she told her superior, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. 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