It is not uncommon for a gambling addict to steal from family, friends, and even the work place in order to fund a gambling habit. We see news stories all the time about an individual who was so caught up in their addiction that they stole an obscene amount of money to be able to pay off debt or continue gambling.
A recent story out of California is similar to what has been seen before except for the fact that the gambling was a nun. Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper recently pled guilty to stealing over $835,000 from a Catholic school to be able to play casino games.
The nun faces a wire fraud charge and a money laundering charge for her actions. At 79 years of age, this was not the story were expecting. In US District Court this week, Sister Mary Margaret entered a guilty plea after cutting a deal with prosecutors.
The sister used her position at the St. James Catholic School located in Torrnace to move funds from the school to her own accounts. As the principal, she was able to do this for quite some time without detection.
The money was used to pay for expenses she incurred including gambling debts from casinos as well as credit card charges. Sister Mary served as the principal at the school for almost three decades and ran the funds scam for a decade before she retired in 2018.
The principal was in charge of charitable donations to the school along with the money paid for tuition and other fees to the school. She had access to several accounts at a local credit union that were under the school’s name, which made it easy for her to steal funds for gambling.
The sister would move school funds into two accounts located at the credit union and then take out cash to pay for trips to Las Vegas.
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