The parents of children at the St. James Catholic School in Torrance, California, knew for a while that the school was in dire straits financially. Most of the textbooks at the school were more than twenty years old and there wasn’t even enough money to build a shade for the lunch area.
The principal of the school, Sister Mary Margaret Kreuper, and her vice principal Sister Lana Chang, were always dressed well and they seemed to be going on a bunch of trips together a few times a year. But why were the sisters taking regular vacations to Las Vegas, and further, how could they afford them?
St. James School
The St. James School website claims the school is “committed to excellence in Catholic education within the structure of the Roman Catholic Faith.” The website also claims that students at the school are nurtured in a “positive, caring, and supportive environment.” It sounds just about perfect for Catholic parents wanting their children to have a solid and well-rounded education.
No Money
The parents from the school knew that they were financially strapped for cash most of the time. When the parents’ committee approached Sister Kreuper to ask for a shade to be built over the students’ outside lunch area, she responded, “How do you expect to pay for it?” on more than one occasion, according to The Washington Post.
Being Pressured
Not only did the school treasury seem to have a serious cashflow problem, but parents were often asked to donate cash as the school was lacking funds. “We would be pressured into donating,” said Jack Alexander, whose three children attended the school for a total of 13 years. “We were always told how little money we had and how the sisters were so poor,” he said.
Wealthy Relatives
When parents asked how the principal and vice principal managed to afford to live together in an upscale townhouse in a gated Torrance neighborhood, they claimed that Chang had wealthy relatives who provided for them, but that was a lie. In fact, the money for the lavish lifestyle and numerous trips to Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe were being stolen from school funds.
Pure Theft
In point of fact, the pair had been stealing money from students’ tuition checks, fees and fundraisers for more than ten years. When the fraud finally came out after more than a decade, school officials and auditors told parents that the duo had diverted at least $500,000 into a defunct church bank account which they lived off for years without anyone knowing about it.
Gambling Nuns
Despite restrictions on gambling within the Catholic faith, these nuns were known to be big gamblers and often frequented the strip in Las Vegas. Marge Graf, an attorney for the archdiocese confirmed to reporters, “We do know that they had a habit 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.”
Cover Up
As is so often the case with religious fraud, the archdiocese wants to sweep the whole thing under the carpet and carry out an internal investigation, not involving the police nor pressing charges. As one parent at the meeting exclaimed at the time, “If this was me, I would be in jail!”
Many Years
No one knows exactly how much money the sisters stole from the school funds or for how long. While Kreuper, 77, was the principal for 29 years; Chang was an eighth-grade teacher for two decades and the vice principal for the last several years. Under extreme pressure from all sides, the archdiocese reversed course, saying it was cooperating with police at this stage.
Paying Back
A spokeswoman for the archdiocese, Adrian Alarcon, said that the church would not press charges as long as the sisters could pay the stolen money back in full. However, when it became clear that that wasn’t realistic due to the large amount involved, they decided to go to the police and have them take action for the crime.
Pressing Charges
Sgt. Ronald Harris, a spokesman for the Torrance Police Department, confirmed that until the church got involved the police were unable to press charges against the nuns. “We had little to go by until a few days ago, when the department was advised that (church) officials want to press charges,” Harris said.
Deep Remorse
Having stolen half a million dollars or more from parents over the years, Msgr. Michael Meyers, the pastor at St. James Church, explained to parents that the scandal only came out after the principal retired. At the same time, he said, both the principal and vice principal had expressed “deep remorse” for their crimes and were sorry. “Let us pray for our school families and for Sister Mary Margaret and Sister Lana,” he said.
Under Supervision
However, no one wanted to pray for the sisters by this point and especially not the parents who had been ripped off over the years while their children were in terrible conditions at the school. The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet released a statement saying that Kreuper and Chang “take full responsibility for the choices they made and are subject to the law.” They added that both the women have been “placed in a religious house under the supervision of community leadership.”
Brown Envelopes
One of the ways in which the sisters were able to defraud parents for years and go undetected were due to the clever methods of deception they employed. Parents were not allowed to pay fees online and had to hand-deliver them by cash or check in church collection-style envelopes. By doing this, the nuns were able to rip off parents for years without anyone knowing.
Personal Apology
During the angry meeting at the school where parents were told about the fraud, Pastor Mayers said the nuns would not be coming to apologize in person.”If they come here to ask your forgiveness and ask your understanding, and if you’re going to sit here and throw tomatoes at them, no, I don’t think they ought to come,” he said. But the extent of the fraud could go even further as more evidence is dug up.
More Evidence
As parents and ex-parents who sent their kids to the school started checking their bank stubs, some noticed other discrepancies. Debby Rhilinger, whose five sons attended the school over 16 years, received copies of her old tuition checks and noticed that all of them had been diverted to a false church account having been hand-endorsed by Sister Kreuper. There was also the rigged raffles that happened annually at the school’s Harvest Festival fundraiser.
Rigged Raffle
For many, these nuns missed the point of their religious teachings time and time again and in a horrible way. For example, at the school’s annual Harvest Festival fundraiser, each family has to donate $100 and buy a Big Red Raffle ticket. Amazingly, Chang won that raffle every year without exception leading people to suspect it was rigged all along. These sisters would stop at nothing to steal money at every opportunity.
Scared to Ask
While many parents who were defrauded over the years are livid about the situation, many want the nuns to be brought to justice by the law for their actions. Jack Alexander said, “We were an ATM, and people know it and they won’t ask for justice.” However, many parents who are devout Catholics feel its a case of “forgive and forget” as the sisters have apologized for what they did.
Not Enough
While Mayers wrote in a letter to parents and parishioners alike, “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,” he added, “They and their order pray that you have not lost trust or faith in the educators and administrators of the school.” But many feel his response was weak and that the nuns deserved to face proper justice for their crimes.
Not Surprised
There are also other parents who aren’t in the slightest bit surprised that the sisters were caught embezzling funds. One anonymous parent told Fox 6: “I will honestly say that it’s not shocking to me,” adding, “There have been a couple of projects that we have been trying to get funded for many years that we have unfortunately been unable to move forward with because of the lack of funding.” Many parents, and their kids, simply got used to the sub-standard level of facilities on the campus.
Community Split
The parents from the school who mostly know each other as they come from a tight-knit church community remain split over the matter. While some parents want to see the nuns behind bars for defrauding them for years, others are more forgiving and feel the sisters have already been judged too harshly. Samantha Pierce, an alumna whose son also graduated from the school, told reporters, “They convicted the sisters before they actually have the facts on hand, that is the thing that disturbed me the most.”
