Catholic Nuns Gambling Games

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (CBS Local) – Two longtime nuns at St. James Catholic School in Torrance allegedly embezzled as much as $500,000 in tuition, fees and donations, perhaps spending some of the money on trips and gambling at casinos while telling parents the school was operating on a shoestring budget, officials and parents told the Long Beach Press-Telegram.

Nuns misappropriated $500K in school funds, spending some on gambling and trips, Catholic church says The nuns allegedly used some of the money to go on trips and gamble. Nuns admit stealing $500,000 from school to go on Las Vegas gambling trips Sister Mary Kreuper and Sister Lana Chang of St James Catholic School, California, are believed to have embezzled funds. People gamble in a casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in this illustrative image. Two nuns from California stole funds from the Catholic school they were at and spent in on vacations and gambling. California nuns Sisters Margaret Kreuper and Lana Chang, who were were educators at St. James Catholic School in Torrance, had been stealing money for tuition, donations and fees into a “long. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles said the nuns took half a million dollars or more over the years, allegedly to spend on travel and casino gambling. One of the accused nuns is the former principal.

Bank records show Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper and Sister Lana Chang were embezzling from the school for at least 10 years, the Press-Telegram reported.

Parents told the Press-Telegram it was well-known that Kreuper and Chang traveled often and went gambling, but that they claimed they were gifted the trips by a rich relative.

The report said a lawyer for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles told parents at a meeting, “We do know that they had a pattern of going on trips, we do know they had a pattern of going to casinos, and the reality is, they used the account as their personal account.”

Kreuper, who retired as the school’s principal earlier in 2018, handled all tuition checks and fees. She allegedly withheld some checks and deposited them into a secret account only she and Chang were aware of.

A nun is a member of a religious community of women, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery. (Photo by Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images)

While investigators found the two gave some of the stolen money back to the school, the rest was used for their “personal gain.”

They reportedly kept up the charade, telling parents that the school was operating on a tight budget, all the while using the embezzled funds for lavish vacations and trips to the casino.

Catholic Nuns Rules

The report claims the archdiocese and the church were not pursuing criminal charges after the nuns showed remorse, but that many parents were outraged with that decision, noting that if the nuns were lay people, they would certainly be in jail.