Nun Embezzles $853,000.00; Confesses

A nun in California has confessed to stealing over $853,000 from the school where she worked.

According to the United States Attorney's Office in the Central District of California, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, 79, has pleaded guilty to embezzling the $853,000.00 + from funds that were meant for the school.

She faces fraud and money laundering charges.

Kreuper took her vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience when she was just a young 18 years old, and was, from outward appearances, a model nun for many years. And then they put her in charge.

According to the story in the Washington Post, Kreuper took the reins of St. James Catholic School south of Los Angeles in 1990 and served in that position for 28 years.

Beginning in 2008, she started to divert funds from the main school account and put them into the account the nuns are authorized to use for day-to-day living expenses. For the next 10 years, she was able to divert over $853,000.00 into the nun's expense fund and then used those funds to fuel her gambling addiction.

How did she get away with it? Through lies. She falsified accounting records, taking donations and checks that were meant to fund the school and using them to gamble and pay credit card debts. She also directed employees to destroy documents related to her theft.

After her admission of guilt, the court scheduled her arraignment for July 1st of this year.

If punished to the fullest extent of the law, she will receive 40 years in federal prison.

Something tells me that, due to her age and her many years of dedication to the church, her punishment will not fit the crime.

Money can make good people do bad things.