From news items dated Feb. 9 to Feb. 20:

• Rhonda Skiver, 32, pleaded guilty on Feb. 19 to embezzling more than $163,000 from the nursing home of which she was formerly CFO. The money was used for gambling debts and personal expenses.
• An Oregon woman, Victoria Monfore, was sent to prison on Feb. 18 for stealing about $1.5 million from her employer of 16 years to finance a gambling addiction. Monfore, 46, faces over 23 years.
• Gary Schroeder, 57, pleaded not guilty on Feb. 17 to stealing $500,000 from a relative’s accounts to fund gambling trips and pay personal expenses.
• Kathy Borrego admitted in court on Feb. 16 that she embezzled $3.4 million from the Jemez Mountain School District in New Mexico. Borrego previously acknowledged a gambling problem when confronted with evidence of her crimes, but has not said where the stolen money went.
• The city manager of Trinity, TX attempted suicide on Feb. 16 after leaving a note in which he confessed stealing money from the town. Trinity’s mayor said he believed Phil Patchett, the manager, had a gambling problem.
• Australian gambling addict Harry Kakavas was ordered to pay a $1 million (USD) gambling debt to the Atlantis Paradise Island casino in the Bahamas.
• Richard Carroll, known to have a gambling problem, was arrested Feb. 12 at Mohegan Sun Casino after he allegedly robbed a bank just six hours earlier. Police knew right where to find the troubled man.
• Donna Jean Lepley, 56, was arraigned on Feb. 12 for embezzling over $100,000 from the furniture store where she worked. Police say they’ve found evidence of a gambling problem. The Oregon woman previously worked for Spirit Mountain, a shithole casino.
• Former insurance agent Roseann Wagner, 45, was sentenced to prison on Feb. 11 for stealing more than $470,000 from her clients and giving it to Mystic Lake Casino, barely two miles from her home.
• Gambling enthusiast Zane Grey, 35, faced a bail hearing on Feb. 10. Grey is accused of swindling acquaintances out of more than $2 million, initially to fund a business but later to fund gambling trips to Las Vegas once his business had fallen apart.
• Australian author Douglas Fredrick Robinson, 63, pleaded not guilty Feb. 9 to murdering a friend from whom he’d borrowed $15,000 (AUD). Robinson, who prosecutors say has a gambling problem, bashed his victim repeatedly with a hammer.
• A 63-year-old former Choctaw Nation employee was sentenced Feb. 9 to probation, ordered to pay $26,700 in restitution, and instructed to enter treatment for her gambling addiction.
• Jennifer Maree Clarke, 53, acknowledged in court on Feb. 5 that she embezzled $315,185.45 (AUD) from her employer of 20 years to feed a poker machine habit.
• Gambling addict Christian Peterson was indicted for failing to repay $3.75 million in loans from Caesars Palace and the Hard Rock Casino. Peterson said the in-casino gambling loans were issued while he was drunk and losing money.
• Thomas M. Pokrywczynski admitted in court that his thefts (exceeding $250,000) from his former union and from a lobbying group were used to feed his gambling addiction.
• A British bank cashier and gambling addict, Daniel Moss, 21, was jailed for stealing more than £40,000 over a seven-month period from a 90-year-old customer with dementia.
• Compulsive gambler Adam Resnick, 37, is trying to claim a 7-figure whistleblower award, but he still owes restitution for a $10 million check-kiting scheme he used to feed his gambling addiction.
• Darlene Nichols, 55, who reportedly has a gambling problem, was arrested for cashing over $5,000 in pension checks issued to her deceased mother. Nichols frequented Foxwoods, according to court documents.
• BancFirst entered a settlement agreement for accepting bogus deposits embezzled from the Oklahoma Land Office by Roger Q. Melson, who admits stealing about $1.16 million to fund a gambling addiction. Melson awaits trial on 174 felony counts.
• Also this week: Capitol Weekly noted that one in five compulsive gamblers will attempt suicide. In Canada, Keith Percey, a Newfoundland man whose daughter killed herself after losing $100,000 to government-operated slot machines, is lobbying to ban the machines.