Mary Margaret Kreuper, 79, a Los Angeles nun who took a vow of poverty, has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges for stealing more than $800,000 to pay for a gambling habit. Kreuper was charged Tuesday with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering.
Prosecutors said that in a plea agreement, the now-retired nun acknowledged that over a decade ending in 2018, she embezzled about $835,000 in donations, tuition, and fee money from St. James Catholic School in the L.A. suburb of Torrance.
Kreuper, who was the school principal for 28 years, “controlled accounts at a credit union, including a savings account for the school and one established to pay the living expenses of the nuns employed by the school,” the U.S. attorney’s office said. Kreuper could face up to 40 years in federal prison.