Despite her vow of poverty, nun stole more than $835,000 from a Catholic school, prosecutors said Jaclyn Peiser A retired nun and former principal at St. James Catholic School in Torrance, Calif., admitted to federal prosecutors that she embezzled over $830,000 from the school to fund her gambling habit. (Google Street View) With each new school year, fresh checks for tuition and fees streamed into the principal’s office at St. James Catholic School in Torrance, Calif. But for 10 years, those checks, along with donations, scarcely made it to the school’s bank account. 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.
Nun Stole Over $800,000 to Support Gambling Habit, Prosecutors Say
Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper has agreed to plead guilty to charges that she embezzled the money while she was the principal at a Catholic school in Torrance, Calif., prosecutors said.
Mary Margaret Kreuper, principal of St. James Catholic School in Torrance, Calif., until 2018, was charged with stealing more than $835,000 in school funds to pay for personal expenses, including gambling trips.Credit.Scott Varley/Torrance Daily Breeze, via Getty Images
As a Catholic nun, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper had taken a vow of poverty.
But this week, prosecutors said Sister Mary Margaret, 79, had agreed to plead guilty to stealing more than $835,000 from a Catholic elementary school to support a gambling habit and to pay for other personal expenses.