HOLLEY, NY — A nun with a gambling addiction is accused of stealing $128,000 from two rural upstate parishes where she worked, authorities say.
Sister Mary Anne Rapp faces grand-larceny charges in Kendall Town Court, Orleans County District Attorney Joseph Cardone says.
Her lawyer, James Harrington, says she’ll plead not guilty.
Rapp is a member of the Sisters of St. Francis, based in Lewiston, north of Buffalo.
Sister Edith Wyss, the order’s provincial minister, says Rapp was placed on leave from her parishes in February 2011 and agreed to seek treatment for a gambling problem. Wyss says Rapp is now in recovery.
The thefts occurred at the parishes of St. Mary in Holley and St. Mark in Kendall. They were discovered during a church audit.