According to an article in the Albany Democrat-Herald newspaper, El Paso resident, Veronica Hagan, embezzled $250,000 from an elderly woman for whom she was a caretaker. Sorting through financial records, authorities determined that Ms. Hagan used a “club card” to spend $233,000 gambling at the Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino in southern New Mexico.
Ms. Hagan pleaded guilty to first-degree criminal mistreatment and two counts of first-degree theft, and was sentenced to three and a half years in prison, and will be required to make restitution of the $250,000. She will also be forbidden to be custodian to elderly people after release from jail.
Gambling related embezzlements have been a common occurrence since casinos, both tribal and racetrack, ever since the casinos were legalized. In most instances the gamblers had no criminal record before the gambling addiction occurred. It is heart-breaking to see how gambling has turned grandmothers and solid citizens into felons.
It’s time for government to get out of the predatory gambling business.
