WESTWOOD, Ohio — A Kroger employee was arrested Thursday on charges she stole more than $100,000 in lottery tickets.
Deborah Strong, 52, of Westwood, Ohio, was booked into the Hamilton County jail on a felony theft charge and released, jail officials said.
Strong, who also goes by the name Deborah Ridenour, stole the tickets, and then cashed them, court documents allege. When confronted, she admitted to the crime, police say. She was taken into custody at the Kroger store in Westwood at 2310 Ferguson Rd.
Kroger reported a loss of more than $100,000, court documents state.
This is not the first time she has been accused of stealing thousands from an employer, court records show.
In 2001, she was convicted of stealing $14,150 from another employer. She was sentenced to probation, which was terminated in June 2005, court records state.
She stole the money from the cash register at Cash City, according to court records.
A Hamilton County judge ordered her to repay the money to the company or its insurance company, perform 500 hours of community service and attend Gamblers Anonymous weekly. She was ordered not to frequent any river boat casinos in Indiana.
So I assume she just printed out the tickets or scanned instant tickets but never paid for them? Either way if she's done this before she does have a problem.
Sweet picture! I like her jowls!
She didn't get any smarter or honest with age or probation. As a convicted thief she was given a second chance so she stole even more.
Be nice!!..She was going to do the right thing and get a face lift with the money now she can't!!..Gotta feel sorry for her with no face lift..
I wonder if she thinks doing this a third time will be a charm.?
She's got the Feeeva! I'd say she needs help, but I think she's just a crook!
He He He that was very funny tiggs!
she'll do it again.
She is a compulsive gambler. I don't understand how Krogers let this go on so long..surely they had to do checks at some point in time to make them realize something was wrong. They should have realized it way before $100,000.00. How did they come up with such a "neat" number loss? If they were scratchers, she must have carried a big bag out every night. They should fire the ones who were in charge of that inventory. Someone wasn't doing their job or maybe she is being blamed for some of their shenanigans, too. It just doesn't sound right. It is too pat.
Rjoh, I think she should go to jail.
Ok so the article says she stole the tickets and then cashed them. LOL I wanna know how much she won!
The article doesn't say if they were scratchers or online tickets but hello she's not too bright to think she could get away with it. Oh wait that's it .......she wasn't thinking!
That was cold and heartless!
Funny, but cold and heartless!
Assuming they were scratchers I'm kind of surprised she didn't get any big wins out of $100,000 worth.
This either doesn't speak well for Ohio scratchers or she bought up all the dadgum losers and everybody else's chances are better now.
Side effect of stealing that many tickets and still not having a big hit?