Mary Margaret Kreuper, an 80-year-old retired nun, served as the principal of St. James Catholic School in Torrance, California, for 28 years. During her tenure, she embezzled funds from the school. Kreuper diverted tuition fees and charitable donations into secret accounts she controlled, using the funds to finance personal expenses, including trips to Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe. To conceal her actions, Kreuper falsified financial reports and instructed school employees to alter and destroy records during audits.
Chapter 1: Who is Sister Mary and what did she do?
So this nun has a gambling problem and she'll do anything to break her vow of poverty and hit up the casinos. Anything. Now her name's Sister Mary and she's in her 60s or 70s and she's the principal at a Catholic elementary school in Los Angeles. And even though she's a nun, Sister Mary has a problem. She really likes to gamble.
And one day, it's not entirely clear when, she comes up with a plan to steal some money so she can gamble as much as she wants. So first, she low-key goes and opens up several bank accounts. Then she starts stealing from the elementary school that she teaches at. I mean, she's straight up taking money from the school's bank account. She's embezzling the students' tuition checks.
We're talking tens of thousands of dollars here. Like, she's making bank off this scheme. However, stealing money ain't all that much fun unless you have someone to share it with. So at some point, Sister Mary gets this woman involved, Sister Chang. And Sister Chang works at the school as well. She's a teacher. And she's also Mary's best friend, and they live together. They're roommates.
So anyway, these two nuns start spending all the school's money. And now before we get into what they do with it, I want to show you what these two criminal masterminds look like. This is Sister Mary, and this is a picture of Sister Chang. So anyway, Mary and Chang steal this money, and they're doing all kinds of stuff with it.
They're going to Vegas, they're taking trips to Lake Tahoe, and not just to see the sights and go on vacation, but also to hit up the casinos. Because like I said, homegirl loves to gamble. And apparently she's really good at poker? Like that's her thing? Which is just hilarious to imagine a nun sitting at a poker table whooping everyone's ass.
Anyway, when they're not gambling, they're racking up tons of credit card charges, which of course, they pay off with the money they're stealing from the school. Now eventually, the two sisters even move out of Catholic church housing, and they start living together in a nice gated neighborhood. roommates. Not to mention, each of them drives a brand new Volvo. Because of course they do.
And yes, over time, some parents start to notice some kind of odd things going on with the sisters. You know, like that they're traveling a lot and going to Las Vegas and taking trips to Lake Tahoe. Or that when the school has a fundraiser and they all play poker for that fundraiser, Sister Mary ends up kicking everyone's ass at the game.
Like, people notice this stuff, but no one really suspects anything because Sister Chang is just like, oh, I have a rich uncle and he provides for us. That's how we have these Volvos. And I guess people just believe it.
And to make it worse, Sister Mary is kind of in charge of everything at the school, like the money, the choosing of the staff, so there's not really anyone there breathing down her neck, making sure that all the funds are accounted for. And plus, They all trust her. I mean, she's an elderly nun. Why wouldn't they? And so Sister Mary and Sister Chang's scam goes on for years. More than a decade.
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Chapter 2: How did Sister Mary embezzle funds from the school?
And so when all is said and done, Sister Mary and Sister Chang stole over $835,000 from this elementary school. And Sister Mary ends up taking a plea deal, and she gets one year in prison, and for some reason, the charges are dropped against Sister Chang. So, I guess nothing happens to her. Sister Mary probably didn't want to snitch on her. You know, because they're... roommates.