BAD HABIT: NUN MARIE THORNTON GAMBLED $1 MILLION

BOY did she have a bad habit, but this nun is no longer on the run from her gambling addiction, although she has landed purgatory for it.
Sister Marie Thornton literally gambled her life away, losing almost $1 million by playing one armed bandits in Atlantic City.
The 65-year-old known to most as Sister Susie pilfered $850,000 from Iona College, while working as a trusted financial officer, using their corporate credit card for chips on the Jersey Shore.
A source told the NY Post the high rolling sister who holds a doctorate in education, once blew $10,000 in one weekend, although sums of $2000 to $5000 were more often the case. US Attorney Preet Bharara said:  “She covered up the thousands she would lose by systematically submitting false
vendor invoices for reimbursement to Iona College and submitting credit-card bills for personal expenses to be paid by Iona College."
Her defense  attorney Sanford Talkin explained that her criminal behavior stemmed from horrific childhood abuse.
He told the court" “When Sister Susie was gambling she was able to stop the suffering internally. Gambling gave her a feeling of freedom, a feeling it’s about her for a change.
“You’re not dealing with somebody who is trying to buy a diamond necklace.”
In an act of mercy, Iona College, which received a $500,000 insurance payment for the theft, did not seek restitution from her.
Nuns take a vow of poverty, so the comfortable salary Sister Susie made as Iona’s vice president of finance -- $180,000 a year -- went to her religious order.
But the Philadelphia convent where she has been a member for more than 48 years have put her in purgatory as she does not take her meals with the sisters.
Her superiors allow her to work inside the Mother house doing small clerical jobs or even weeding the garden, according to court records.

She is not allowed to leave the nunnery to visit relatives or friends or be seen in public at all and her only escapes are trips to her therapist and group counseling.
Sister Susie was extremely contrite in court last week.
After pleading guilty to one count of embezzlement she said: “I have labored over finding the right words because I want so desperately for you to know how sorry I am, but somehow the words . . . don’t touch or convey . . . the gut-wrenching sorry that I feel all day, every day.”
The judge seemed to take pity on the light fingered sister, sparing her the three year in federal prison she could have faced.