80-Year-Old California Nun Sentenced to Prison for Stealing Over $800K From Catholic School

The retired California nun and elementary school principal who stole over $800,000 from her school to fund her gambling habit has been sentenced to one year in federal prison, according to CBS News.

80-year-old Mary Margaret Kreuper plead guilty back in June to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering for stealing $835,000 from Torrance’s St. James Catholic School, where she worked for 28 years. Krueper admitted to stealing the money for “large gambling expenses incurred at casinos and certain credit card charges.” The theft occurred over the course of 10 years from 2008 to 2018. U.S. District Court Judge Otis D. Wright II also ordered Kreuper to pay back the school approximately $835,000 back as restitution.

On Monday, Kreuper told U.S. District Judge Wright II how deeply sorry she was at her sentencing, and that she realized how she had “sinned.”

“I have sinned, I’ve broken the law and I have no excuses,” she said. “My actions were in violation of my vows, my commandments, the law and, above all, the sacred trust that so many had placed in me. I was wrong and I’m profoundly sorry for the pain and suffering I’ve caused so many people.”

It was previously reported that Kreuper was able to get away with stealing so much money for a decade by falsifying reports and “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, which, in turn, allowed defendant Kreuper to maintain her access and control of the school’s finances and accounts and, thus, continue operating the fraudulent scheme.”