California: Nun admits stealing school funds for gambling

A retired 79-year-old nun has admitted to stealing and using money from schools to pay for her personal gambling habits.

Mary Margaret Kreuper stole more than $835,000 from St James Catholic School where she worked as a principal for nearly 10 years.

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She admitted to directing funds from the school treasury to her personal accounts to finance the activities that her religious world would not have approved. These activities involved her “large gambling expenses incurred at casinos” and credit card bills.

Kreuper made sure she accurately falsified her monthly and annual reports submitted to the school administration to make sure her fraudulent activities are not caught.

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The Justice Department also stated that Kreuper ordered administrative staff to destroy or alter several financial records, from time to time, during school audits.

The retired nun faces a maximum jail sentence of 40 years in federal prison for her criminal activities.