It is not uncommon to find an individual has embezzled funds from their employer to pay for a gambling habit. Time and time again, we see corporations and even small businesses affected by corrupt employees who steal to be able to play their favorite casino games, like poker or blackjack. However, this past week, it was surprising to find that two nuns of a catholic school have been found to have embezzled over $500,000 to fund their Las Vegas Gambling habit.
The Los Angeles Archdiocese has confirmed that Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper and Sister Lana Chang were stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Saint James Catholic School, an educational facility located in the city of Torrance.
The two sisters admitted their wrongdoing, having stolen money from the school to fund trips to Sin City. The church was able to determine that the nuns had been stealing for about a decade, skimming off the top to be able to use the money to gamble and travel.
Sister Kreuper was the principal of the school and with Sister Chang, an 8th grade teacher, both retired earlier in the year. After their retirement, their theft was found after an investigation. Kreuper was reportedly diverting checks paid to the school for tuition to an old account of the school that had long been forgotten. The two nuns would then use that account to travel to Las Vegas and gamble.
Both women had been with the school for many years and their behavior was unbelieved by many. Sister Kreuper had been employed at the school for 29 years while Sister Change was there for two decades. Both were confronted about the theft and admitted their wrong doing. In the beginning, the two said their trips were gifts from a rich relative but they eventually came out saying that they had used money from the church to travel.
The church has no plans to charge the women and both have pledged to pay the money back.
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