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A file picture of St. James Catholic Faculty in Torrance from July 8, 2020. (Photograph by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-Information/ SCNG)
A nun and former principal of a Torrance Catholic faculty was sentenced to 1 12 months in jail on Monday, Feb. 7, after pleading responsible to embezzling roughly $835,000 from the Okay-8 campus to pay for private bills reminiscent of playing journeys.
Mary Margaret Kreuper, 80, of Los Angeles, admitted to stealing the funds whereas she was principal at St. James Catholic Faculty from 2008 to 2018. In July, she pleaded responsible to 1 rely every of wire fraud and cash laundering.
U.S. District Courtroom Decide Otis D. Wright II sentenced Kreuper to 1 12 months in federal jail and to completely pay the varsity again. She has paid again $10,000 and is anticipated to persevering with paying again what she will be able to, even when that's solely $20 a month after she is launched.
“I've sinned, I’ve damaged the legislation and I've no excuses,” Kreuper stated by way of teleconference from a convent. “My actions had been in violation of my vows, my commandments, the legislation and, above all, the sacred belief that so many had positioned in me. I used to be fallacious and I’m profoundly sorry for the ache and struggling I’ve prompted so many individuals.”
Kreuper was chargeable for funds the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade faculty acquired for tuition and costs, along with donations.
Along with the embezzling funds, the previous principal additionally directed workers to change and destroy monetary information throughout a faculty audit, Assistant U.S. Lawyer Poonam Kumar stated.
The prosecutor argued for a heavier sentence of two years in jail, contemplating the sum of money stolen, the scheme’s time span and the makes an attempt to destroy proof.
“That's an outpouring of greed,” Kumar stated. “She abused the belief of this group.”
Throughout sentencing in downtown Los Angeles, Wright stated he took into consideration Kreuper’s age, lack of prior prison historical past and her 60-plus years as a nun.
However, he stated, “I'm certain that this horrible instance will have an effect on these youngsters. … You simply ran utterly off the street.”
In an earlier interview with authorities, Wright stated, Kreuper advised investigators that one consider taking the cash was that she felt there was a disparity in pay between non-public and public colleges. The choose requested Kreuper how she might consider that, contemplating she was a nun and “mainly signed on to be poor.”
“What I perceived as an injustice was rationale for my sin,” Kreuper stated, “and I do know that I used to be fallacious.”
Kreuper’s protection legal professional stated she suffered from a playing habit. Wright additionally ordered Kreuper to obtain counseling for the habit.
Dozens of individuals – in church management, faculty coworkers, mother and father and former college students – signed letters for the sentencing. A majority of them had been in favor of Kreuper receiving a lighter sentence, Decide Wright stated.
After reviewing the letters, Wright stated Kreuper has possible impacted hundreds of youngsters’s lives in optimistic methods and helped them to attain success. Kreuper wiped away tears on the choose’s remark.
A number of folks spoke in the course of the listening to, together with some mother and father of scholars who stated they felt betrayed Kreuper pocketed their tuition cash, and others who stated they forgave her.
One former scholar stated the entire expertise has shaken her, violated her belief and performed a job in her now not being part of the Catholic church.
Kevin Kearns, whose son attended St. James, stated Kreuper all the time put college students and fogeys forward of the whole lot else. She made herself out there for any questions, and helped with any concern Kearns stated he had.
“I don’t really feel that I’m a sufferer on this case, I received precisely what I paid for,” Kearns stated. “My son received one of the best schooling potential, the truth is, I in all probability would’ve paid double the tutoring charge to ensure that my son to attend St. James.”
However Cheryl Hugo, a former secretary on the faculty whose son additionally attended St. James, stated Kreuper’s actions had been “an abuse of energy in each potential approach,” together with the nun’s makes an attempt to incriminate her whereas destroying proof.
The scandal surfaced publicly in 2018 when the small faculty introduced that it had advised police that Kreuper and a second sister had been “concerned within the private use of a considerable quantity of faculty funds.” The second sister was by no means charged.