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Lotto addict steals $2.3m
24/08/2006 10:21 - (SA)
Riverhead, New York - The former bookkeeper for a doctors' office pleaded guilty on Wednesday to second-degree grand larceny, admitting she stole more than $2.3m that she used to buy lottery tickets.
Prosecutors, who described the bookkeeper as having a gambling addiction, said Annie Donnelly spent as much as $6 000 a day playing various lotto and scratch-off lottery games.
"She spent most of it to feed her pathological addiction," said Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota.
Donnelly, 38, faces four-to-12 years in prison when she is sentenced on September 20, for stealing the money from her employers.
Donnelly, who is being held on $150 00 bail, also will have to repay the stolen money.
Donnelly made no other comments other than pleading guilty during her brief appearance before state Supreme Court Justice Robert Doyle.
Planty said investigators believe Donnelly may have won some small jackpots of $5 000 or as much as $25 000, but it was never enough to cover the amount she had stolen overall.
- AP
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South Africa
