Two summers ago, Sean Flynn reported a wild story for GQ about two very badly behaved nuns: Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, and Sister Lana Chang, a principal and a teacher at St. James Catholic School in Torrance, California. The nuns funneled hundreds of thousands of fundraising dollars into a shell account to support a gambling habit. Their crimes came to light in 2018, and earlier this week, Kreuper pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and money laundering.
At the time of Flynn’s reporting, St. James School estimated the two women embezzled around $500,000. Ultimately Kreuper admitted to stealing over $835,000. Most of the money came from school fundraisers; some came from a tuition hike. Kreuper claimed the school was always strapped for cash, then funneled donations into shell accounts that she and Chang would use to fund trips to Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe.
Parents have acknowledged that there were a number of red flags at St. James, but no one wants to assume the worst of nuns. Looking back, though, wasn’t it a little strange that Sister Mary Margaret was always organizing poker nights at the school for “charity,” and that she always made the final table? Wasn’t it weird that she and her friends won every single raffle. And wasn’t it even weirder that she was going to Vegas all the time?
Kreuper, 79, could get sentenced to up to 40 years behind bars. It’s unclear what will happen to Chang, or whether she’s even involved in any ongoing investigation. Regardless, don’t trust any nun who absolutely crushes Texas Hold’em, and read Flynn’s original story here.