LOS ANGELES
A now-retired nun who was the principal of a Catholic elementary school in Torrance agreed to plead to stealing more than $835,000 in school funds to pay for personal expenses, including gambling trips, officials stated.
Mary Margaret Kreuper, 79, of Los Angeles, was charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering.
Prosecutors filed a plea agreement in which Kreuper agreed to plead guilty to the two charges. She is facing up to 40 years in federal prison.
For a period of 10 years ending in September 2018, Kreuper embezzled money from St. James Catholic School. As principal – a position she held for 28 years – Kreuper was responsible for the money the school received to pay for tuition and fees, as well as for charitable donations, according to authorities.
Kreuper controlled accounts at a credit union, including a savings account for the school and one established to pay the living expenses of the nuns employed by the school.
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 used the diverted funds “to pay for expenses.
These were expenses thatt the order would not have approved, much less paid for, including large gambling expenses incurred at casinos and certain credit card charges, officials stated.
In her plea agreement, she admitted to falsifying monthly and annual reports to the school administration to cover up her fraudulent conduct.
She “lulled St. James School and the Administration into believing that the school’s finances were being properly accounted for and its financial assets properly safeguarded.
This allowed Kreuper to maintain her access and control of the school’s finances and accounts and, thus, continue operating the fraudulent scheme.
The criminal information also alleges that Kreuper directed St. James School employees to alter and destroy financial records during a school audit.
Kreuper admitted that, over the course of the scheme, she caused losses to St. James Catholic School totaling $835,339.
The Torrance Police Department, the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation conducted the investigation in this matter.