California Nun to Plead Guilty for Stealing Over $800K to Help Pay for Gambling Trips

A California nun will plead guilty to stealing over $800,000 from the Catholic elementary school she ran to help pay for her gambling vacations.

In a news release from the US Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, 79, was charged Tuesday with wire fraud and money laundering for defrauding St. James Catholic School for ten years, ending in September 2018.

Kreuper, who had been the school’s principal for 28 years, decided to plead guilty as part of a bargain with prosecutors.

According to the plea bargain, Kreuper exploited her position to divert $835,339 from the school’s money “to pay for expenses that the order would not have approved, much less paid for, including large gambling expenses incurred at casinos and certain credit card charges.”

Prosecutors said the nun was in charge of handling tuition money, fees the institution received, and charitable gifts.

They also said she had authority over the school’s credit union accounts, which she used to funnel other cash into and ultimately spent.

Kreuper confessed to fabricating the school’s financial documents, according to the prosecutor.

On July 1, she will be arraigned.