Torrance nun sentenced to year in federal prison for embezzling $835K from Catholic school

Former school principal sentenced for embezzling

Mary Margaret Kreuper, the former principal at St. James Catholic School in Torrance was sentenced to a year in prison Monday for embezzling more than $800,000 from the school.

LOS ANGELES - A Torrance nun will be spending the next 12 months behind bars.

In July 2021, Mary Margaret Kreuper, who took a vow of poverty, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. Kreuper was accused of and later sentenced for embezzling money from St. James Catholic School for personal expenses, including gambling trips to Las Vegas. Kreuper worked as the school’s principal and committed the crimes over a ten-year period through September 2018, officials said.

The 80-year-old worked at the school for 28 years and was responsible for the school’s charitable donations, tuition and fees, controlled accounts at a credit union, which included a savings account, as well as one created to pay the living expenses of the nuns who worked at the school. Court documents reveal Kreuper diverted the school funds into personal accounts.

Nun accused of embezzling 835K from school in Torrance

The retired principal of a Catholic elementary school in Torrance, who as a nun took a vow of poverty, confessed to fraud and money laundering charges involving the theft of more than $835,000 in school funds to pay for personal expenses, including gambling trips, federal prosecutors said.

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"On an annualized basis (approximately $83,000 per year), [Kreuper] stole the equivalent of the tuition of 14 different students per year," prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum. "These funds were intended to further the students’ education, not fund [Kreuper’s] lifestyle. In their letters [to the court], several students and parents commented on how the school was lacking in resources… Another parent discussed [in a letter to the court] how [Kreuper] said there was no money for an awning at school and no money for field trips."

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Defense attorneys said Kreuper became a nun when she was 18 years old, and for the next 59 years "dedicated her life to helping others and educating children in Archdiocesan schools. ... As soon as she was confronted, she accepted full responsibility for what she had done and she has cooperated fully with law enforcement and the Archdiocese."

U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II said at last year's plea hearing that he was raised as a Roman Catholic, "and was educated by nuns. And I don't look at nuns as ordinary people."

The judge advised Kreuper that he expected her to make a statement at sentencing, adding, "I don't have to worry about (lies) coming from you."

City News Service contributed to this report.

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