April 2006

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Gambling Addictions Can Lead To Embezzlement
by Jason DeRusha, CBS Reporting

Gambling Addictions Can Lead To Embezzlement

Jason DeRusha
Reporting

(WCCO) Four women have been charged with or convicted of theft in the past month and prosecutors said all spent the money they stole at casinos.

Donna Murphy was convicted in January of stealing nearly $200,000 from an elderly neighbor. She gambled away the money at Mystic Lake Casino.

Jennifer A. Rosvold, 36, was charged Feb. 3 with stealing more than $400,000 from her employer. Prosecutors said she spent more than a third of the money at several casinos in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Lori E. Kratzke, 42, a former Ramsey County sheriff's deputy, was charged Feb. 11 with stealing from her employer. She gambled away the money at Treasure Island Casino.

On Tuesday, Pa P. Vang, 34, was charged with stealing more than $200,000 from a nonprofit. She told police she lost all of the money at Mystic Lake Casino.

"The rock bottom may be when they're caught," said Dave Koeplin, with Fairview Recovery Services.

Koeplin said about a third of the gambling addicts he treats at Fairview turn to embezzlement.

"Their thought is, 'I'm going to go out there and win, and then I'll come back and put the money back and I've got the money that I wanted to make and that will be it,'" Koeplin said. "But very often the addiction has gotten to the point where even if they win, they'll keep playing until they lose."

According to the National Council on Problem Gambling, approximately two million people in the United States meet the criteria of a pathological gambler. Another four to six million have a less significant, but serious, problem with gambling.

The four cases in this story were all built over the past year and it is in part coincidence they are all being prosecuted now.

Casinos are also becoming more cooperative in the investigations, which is also apparently helping move prosecutions along.