Sister Mary Margret Kreuper’s plea agreement indicates she’ll plead guilty for embezzling $1m from St James School in Torrance,California.Credit:Screenshot/KTLA5
A statement from Kreuper’s lawyer,Mark Byrne,said that she was “very remorseful for what happened,” describing how she became a nun at 18 and has dedicated her life to helping others.
“Unfortunately,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 statement said.
A person who answered the phone at St James Catholic School,where Kreuper was principal for nearly three decades until she retired in 2018,said the school had no comment. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles said it had contacted authorities in 2018 when financial reviews showed that a substantial amount of school funds had been misappropriated for personal use by Kreuper.
“The community of faith at St James was shocked and saddened by these actions and the parish,school and the archdiocese reported the matter and fully cooperated with authorities in the criminal investigation,” the archdiocese said in its statement.
St James Catholic School in Torrance,California. Two nuns allegedly embezzled thousands of dollars from the school to finance personal expenses including trips to Las Vegas casinos.Credit:Getty Images
In November 2018,the pastor of St James Catholic Church in Redondo Beach alerted parents in letters that both Kreuper,then recently retired,and Sister Lana Chang,a former teacher,had allegedly misappropriated school funds for their personal use. Chang,who retired at the same time as Kreuper,was an eighth-grade teacher for about 20 years and had served as vice principal for the past several years.
In the weeks that followed,parents toldThe Times that both nuns,who drove to campus in Volvos,had spoken openly about trips they’d taken to Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe. Many parents expressed outrage as details of the financial scheme were disclosed during a two-hour meeting at the church and asked if the nuns would apologise to families.