Sister Mary Anne Rapp, a nun in Orleans County, N.Y. was ordered to court last Monday. Reason? She is being accused of stealing $128,000 from two churches between 2006 and 2010. According to The Buffalo News, the authorities believe the money was spent gambling. According to another news site, Rapp has spent 9 1/2 months receiving in-patient treatment for a gambling addiction and is still in recovery, but she still faces a criminal charge of grand larceny following her thefts from St. Mary and St. Mark congregations.
"This is a difficult time for all of us," Sister Edith Wyss, a minister who knows the defendant, told the Associated Press, "especially those of us who have lived and worked with Sister Mary Anne for her nearly 50 years in our community."
A former nun was last week ordered by a judge to pay back $970,123 that she received from investors between 2009 and 2011 to manage a casino project in D'Iberville, Mississippi. Sandra Manno, the mayor of Marlton, New Jersey in the 1970s, who reportedly helped legalize gambling in the state, used money for The CanCan Casino Resort and Spa project (expected to open in December this year) to enrich herself, her family, and their friends through generous compensation.
