Sister Mary Margaret
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A disgraced nun who stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Los Angeles Catholic elementary school and went on Vegas gambling sprees will be reciting her penance from inside a federal prison cell.
Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, of Los Angeles, was sentenced Monday to one year and one day for fraud and money laundering charges. The 80-year-old nun also was ordered to pay a total of $825,338.57 in restitution for the money she embezzled while she was a principal at St. James Catholic School in Torrance, Calif.
Prosecutors said Kreuper, who was the school’s principal for 28 years, diverted funds to pay for expenses that her order — the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet — would never have approved, including large gambling expenses from casino trips and credit card charges she made from 2008 to September 2018.
Kreuper, who apologized to the community during Monday’s sentencing, also made a Hail Mary plea to the judge for leniency.
“I have sinned, I have broken the law, and I have no excuses,” Kreuper said during Monday’s hearing, according to the LA Times.
