Two nuns from the Sisters of St Joseph of Carondelet’s congregation, Sisters Mary Margaret Kreuper and Lana Chang, have admitted to stealing from a school, where they were a principal and teacher for over two decades, in order to fund gambling trips to Las Vegas.
Kreuper and Chang are believed to have siphoned off cash from tuition fees and donations at St James school in Torrance, near Los Angeles, for at least a decade, reports Guardian UK.
A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Adrian Alarcon, said the alleged theft was discovered during an audit, routinely done after a principal leaves office. The nuns retired from the school last year.
The total taken from the school was still being calculated, Alarcon said, adding he could not confirm reports that it was up to $500,000 (£400,000).
In a letter to parents, Monsignor Michael Meyers of St James School described the sum as substantial. “This matter came to our attention during financial reviews in connection with the change in leadership at our school,” he said, adding that no one else was implicated.
At a meeting, he was reported to have told parents that around the same time as the audit, a family requested a copy of a cheque made out to the school and staff noticed it had been deposited in a bank account that was not the school’s.
Meyers said both nuns acknowledged the theft when confronted, apologised and were cooperating with an investigation. He said they and their order, had promised to pay back the money.
“Sister Mary Margaret and Sister Lana have expressed to me, and asked that I convey to you, the deep remorse they each feel for their actions and ask for your forgiveness and prayers,” Meyers said in his letter. “They and their order pray that you have not lost trust or faith in the educators and administrators of the school.”
The archdiocese has notified the police but Meyers said church officials did not plan to press charges and instead wanted to resolve the situation internally with the money repaid and the nuns disciplined by their order.
