This is not the kind of jackpot one Long Island woman probably had in mind.
The former bookkeeper for a doctors' office pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree grand larceny, admitting she stole more than $2.3 million that she used to buy lottery tickets. Prosecutors, who described the bookkeeper as having a gambling addiction, said the woman 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.
Annie Donnelly, 38, of Farmingville, faces 4-to-12 years in prison when she is sentenced on Sept. 20, for stealing the money from her employers — Great South Bay Surgical Associates. Donnelly, who is being held on $150,000 bail, also will have to repay the stolen money.
Other than to admit her crime, Donnelly made no other comments during her brief appearance before state Supreme Court Justice Robert Doyle.
A telephone call to an office manager at Great South Bay Surgical Associates seeking comment was not immediately returned.
Assistant District Attorney Donna Planty said that between June 2002 and November 2005, Donnelly wrote company checks for cash, petty cash, or checks payable to herself and then falsely listed them as payments to vendors associated with the medical office.
The average check was for less than $3,000 and Donnelly wrote them in oddly-numbered amounts instead of round numbers to avoid being caught, prosecutors said. She also would "move money around" to different accounts within the business ledgers to elude discovery.
Most of the lottery tickets were purchased at a greeting cards store near her home.
The stolen money was discovered when a bank called one of the physicians to say his checks were bouncing. In the first year Donnelly stole $41,261 from the office. Each year, the thefts increased, with Donnelly stealing $1,381,927 in 2005.
In all, more than $2.3 million was taken, Planty said.
"She obviously had a gambling problem," Planty said. "She appeared to be caught up in the high of winning."
Planty said investigators believe Donnelly may have won some small jackpots of $5,000 or even $25,000, but it was never enough to cover the amount she had stolen overall.
Defense attorney George Vlachos declined to speak with reporters outside the courtroom.
Yeah, I think she has a gambling problem. I can't believe that she got away with over 2 million dollars before being caught. I guess she did a good job of hiding her theft.
This woman didn't have a gambling problem, she had a stealing problem and was stupid to boot. Why would any reasonable person steel $6000 to buy scratch-off lottery tickets that probably didn't have a $6000 prize even on a winner and if it did, they would have to pay out $1000 of it in taxes.
This woman didn't have a gambling problem, she had a stealing problem and was stupid to boot. Why would any reasonable person steel $6000 to buy scratch-off lottery tickets that probably didn't have a $6000 prize even on a winner and if it did, they would have to pay out $1000 of it in taxes.
You are correct about the stupid part, but I disagree about the gambling problem. If gambling wasn't the problem, why then did she not just spend it on something else, like cars, jewelry, trips, etc.... ?
Quote: Originally posted by liberal47 on Aug 23, 2006
Yeow! 6k a day, that makes me feel real good about my 10 dollar a day habit.
YEOW! $10 dollars a day? That makes me feel better about my $10 a week habit.
"Planty said investigators believe Donnelly may have won some small jackpots of $5,000 or even $25,000, but it was never enough to cover the amount she had stolen overall."
Oy! So this means that a woman who spent over $2.3 million playing didn't win a big jackpot? Not too encouraging for someone betting $500 to $1,000 a year.
Quote: Originally posted by justxploring on Aug 23, 2006
YEOW! $10 dollars a day? That makes me feel better about my $10 a week habit.
"Planty said investigators believe Donnelly may have won some small jackpots of $5,000 or even $25,000, but it was never enough to cover the amount she had stolen overall."
Oy! So this means that a woman who spent over $2.3 million playing didn't win a big jackpot? Not too encouraging for someone betting $500 to $1,000 a year.
Maybe she should have come to LP and got some advice on how to win, there's people here who claim with the right system and enough money one can make a profit. Or she could have bought a premium memberships and spent $50 (fantasy money) per day per over 100 different lotteries and lost a lot less.
So if someone wins with stolen money, does she get to keep the prize money? What if she did win a big jackpot and then was convicted of theft? Wouldn't this be similar to using another person's credit card to play the lottery?
Quote: Originally posted by justxploring on Aug 23, 2006
So if someone wins with stolen money, does she get to keep the prize money? What if she did win a big jackpot and then was convicted of theft? Wouldn't this be similar to using another person's credit card to play the lottery?
If it was my money and she won with it I would have settled out of court for about half the jackpot, anybody wonder about 2 million plus disappearing, this guy had to be making 10 times that much to not miss it .. regardless of how she cooked the books
If it was my money and she won with it I would have settled out of court for about half the jackpot, anybody wonder about 2 million plus disappearing, this guy had to be making 10 times that much to not miss it .. regardless of how she cooked the books
I was wondering the same thing, that and I wonder how many other people are stealing from this company. It sounds like it's as easy as stealing candy from a baby.
One thing to be very thankful for: IF YOU WERE NOT THE POOR PERSON STANDING IN LINE BEHIND HER waiting to play your $6 or $10! I'm known to wait 15 or 20 minutes for someone playing "only" $100.
Quote: Originally posted by justxploring on Aug 23, 2006
YEOW! $10 dollars a day? That makes me feel better about my $10 a week habit.
"Planty said investigators believe Donnelly may have won some small jackpots of $5,000 or even $25,000, but it was never enough to cover the amount she had stolen overall."
Oy! So this means that a woman who spent over $2.3 million playing didn't win a big jackpot? Not too encouraging for someone betting $500 to $1,000 a year.
What would you expect? Spending $2.3 million on the lottery pretty much guarantees losing half that amount, because that's how much the state typically takes before money goes into the prize pool. If only 50% of the ticket price goes towards prizes then statistically you should expect to win 50 cents for every dollar you play, and the more money you spend the more likely that your results will be statistically normal. Even if she had spent the money on a game with low odds like NY lotto she would only have had about a 10% chance of winning. If she had spent it on megamillions she'd have had about a 1.3% chance of winning. Anyone with sense spends a modest amount of money and hopes like hell they won't be statistically normal.
Well at least it's a good example to people who spend large amounts per drawing that it doesn't increase your odds, At least if she had bought art with the money the company could have gotten the money back.
Something sounds fishy about this story. where did she find time to do her job if she was buying as much as 6000 dollars a day worth of tickets. what counter person wouldn't be suspicious of a person buying that many tickets every day or even once a week. Anyone with half a brain knows no body makes 42,000 a week in salary. i have a difficult enough time buying 20 bucks worth of tickets let alone more. Even if she gave the lottery terminal operator a list every day the operator would be spending the whole shift punching out numbers. If she was buying scratch offs every day the store would be sold out of tickets. The lottery might even be suspicious that a store like this would be selling that many tickets.
if she was buying thousands of scratch off where did she find time to scratch off all of her purchases. She would be up night and day it takes about an hour to scratch off 200 tickets.
Also it takes time to check pick 3/4 tickets especially if you have thousands of them to go through. Cash a ticket for more than 600 bucks don't you have to report income since they send you a tax form to file with your taxes.
I would buy this story if they said she spent 600 a day buying tickets but 6 grand give me a break.
Quote: Originally posted by four4me on Aug 24, 2006
Something sounds fishy about this story. where did she find time to do her job if she was buying as much as 6000 dollars a day worth of tickets. what counter person wouldn't be suspicious of a person buying that many tickets every day or even once a week. Anyone with half a brain knows no body makes 42,000 a week in salary. i have a difficult enough time buying 20 bucks worth of tickets let alone more. Even if she gave the lottery terminal operator a list every day the operator would be spending the whole shift punching out numbers. If she was buying scratch offs every day the store would be sold out of tickets. The lottery might even be suspicious that a store like this would be selling that many tickets.
if she was buying thousands of scratch off where did she find time to scratch off all of her purchases. She would be up night and day it takes about an hour to scratch off 200 tickets.
Also it takes time to check pick 3/4 tickets especially if you have thousands of them to go through. Cash a ticket for more than 600 bucks don't you have to report income since they send you a tax form to file with your taxes.
I would buy this story if they said she spent 600 a day buying tickets but 6 grand give me a break.
I agree that on the surface it would seem fishy. In this case the fish was caught in a small pond. ITs VERY easy to splurge on Pick 3/Pick4 match 6/ Powerball or MegaBall and instant games! Instant games have tickets that cost $20.00 a pop! I buy the story because Ive read how church book keepers steal money for years! ANd the church pardons them! WHy? Because to them its not their money, its the good lords.
A physician office depends on a book keeper! The physician is skilled in medical areas NOT accounting! THus why its imparative to *trust* and audit your book keeper. Yes a physician office ( cardiac, brain or oncologist) make money hand over foot, so its conceivable to see such funds accumulate and dispense quite quickly. The woman was skilled at her job enough to know how to hide funds in accounts. She would have served ENRON well , but that is a whole other topic!
I do think NOT all her thievery went to gambling.
I feel guilty each week when I spend $10.00 on the lottery, so I cannot imagine if it was someone elses money how I could feel any less guilty! Perhaps its a matter of valueing hard earned money.
Could this be a bogus insanity defense? If she was caught stealing and it was because she resented the rich doctors, she won't get off with a slap on the wrist. If she BLAMES her "addiction" on a gambling problem, she might generate a lot of sympathy. Isn't that what people do these days...blame their crimes on someone or something besides their own greed, lust or hatred? If you kill someone for drugs, blame your abusive parents, the drug dealer who got you hooked or society for not accepting you. If you molest a child, then blame the uncle or teacher who hurt you when you were young and cry in front of the camera. So why not say "The Lottery Made Me Do It?"
Maybe she still has a great deal of the money stashed somewhere and said she blew it all on the lottery so the authorities wouldn't be searching for it. Blowing all of it on the lottery is almost equivalent to saying it went up in smoke. Plus, instead of just being a thieving scoundrel she gets to attain an appearance of being a "victim" herself. I'm sure some people will feel sorry for her rather than despise her. It's a form of the "twinkie defense". Blame one of society's "ills" rather than accept responsibility for ones own actions. Poor woman isn't at fault, she just couldn't help herself. And before someone tries to poke holes in my supposition, just because she is ordered to pay it back doesn't mean she will if she has the money stashed somewhere. Live off the money and pay back what little you can while still providing yourself a living. I don't doubt she probably spent an incredible amount on the lottery, but $6,000 a day? Get real.
Quote: Originally posted by mangeydog on Aug 24, 2006
Maybe she still has a great deal of the money stashed somewhere and said she blew it all on the lottery so the authorities wouldn't be searching for it. Blowing all of it on the lottery is almost equivalent to saying it went up in smoke. Plus, instead of just being a thieving scoundrel she gets to attain an appearance of being a "victim" herself. I'm sure some people will feel sorry for her rather than despise her. It's a form of the "twinkie defense". Blame one of society's "ills" rather than accept responsibility for ones own actions. Poor woman isn't at fault, she just couldn't help herself. And before someone tries to poke holes in my supposition, just because she is ordered to pay it back doesn't mean she will if she has the money stashed somewhere. Live off the money and pay back what little you can while still providing yourself a living. I don't doubt she probably spent an incredible amount on the lottery, but $6,000 a day? Get real.
We posted at virtually the same time, it just took me longer because I was eating chicken and dumpling soup while I was typing. Don't be paranoid, I wasn't copying you. Sheesh!!!
I've heard some people express the eroneous belief that if you bet and lose, then next game spend twice as much. Yes they did say that strange as it sounds.
That may have been that person's strategy, along with being stuck on stupid for stealing.
I have seen a handful of people over my 13 years of playing the lottery play big on the lottery. They were at special times in the year. It was always during the tax return season and at the holidays mainly christmas. I would be buying tickets and some one would come in and buy a book of scratch-its or if the jackpot was high on powerball $200 to $500 on powerball. I guess I could see someone spending that much money on lottery if they bought books of scratch-its. 5 books of $5 or $10 tickets have to be over $1000. Then 50-$10 powerball tickets that had powerplay on then is $500. Awe what the hell she is an ADDICT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No one should spend that much money on the lottery.-weshar75
Quote: Originally posted by mangeydog on Aug 24, 2006
We posted at virtually the same time, it just took me longer because I was eating chicken and dumpling soup while I was typing. Don't be paranoid, I wasn't copying you. Sheesh!!!
Not accusing you of anything, mangeydog! We were at the same time and I thought it was interesting that we both had the same idea too. Who's paranoid?
I've heard some people express the eroneous belief that if you bet and lose, then next game spend twice as much. Yes they did say that strange as it sounds.
Konane,
When I used to vacation in Vegas many years ago, people told me that all the time. If I bet $5 on a Blackjack hand and lost I was told to bet $10 and then $20 and then $40. I finally asked "So what happens when I run out of money?" I read on a site once that in life persistence can often lead to success but in gambling it will inevitably lead to bankruptcy!
Hah!!! Okay, I figured(wrongly) that you were being a stooge about it. My apologies jxp. I'm sure you do type faster than me. I was eating soup so I was typing one handed. Although that's no excuse, I do most things on the internet one-handed.
I agree with you, this woman had another addiction, she had a stealing addiction. This woman got high off of stealing and gambling. I can't even feel sorry for her, its unbelievable how greed infested her life!
She probably went to different stores in a day to purchase, and you can best believe if she was that good she can hide stealing that large amount, she knew how to get around the IRS. Maybe she did'nt purchase the 6000.00 everyday. I've been in line at the stores and have seen people play 100.00 on 1 set of numbers. Maybe she was betting like that. If she bought a system I'd like to know what it was, so I won't make the mistake of buying it in the future.
Yeah, I think she has a gambling problem. I can't believe that she got away with over 2 million dollars before being caught. I guess she did a good job of hiding her theft.
Yeow! 6k a day, that makes me feel real good about my 10 dollar a day habit.
She Gambled (Twice):
1. Stole from her Employers
2. Bet on Games of Chance
and Lost (Thrice):
1. The Games of Chance
1. Her Freedom
2. Must Repay the Stolen Money
Wow....would of been better off....taking 2.3 million and live on an island some where.....lol lol .....some people's kids...lol
This is really sad...
She should have called the gambling addiction hot line a long time ago....
If you need to win you need to quit, as the saying goes.....
DD
This woman didn't have a gambling problem, she had a stealing problem and was stupid to boot. Why would any reasonable person steel $6000 to buy scratch-off lottery tickets that probably didn't have a $6000 prize even on a winner and if it did, they would have to pay out $1000 of it in taxes.
You are correct about the stupid part, but I disagree about the gambling problem. If gambling wasn't the problem, why then did she not just spend it on something else, like cars, jewelry, trips, etc.... ?
YEOW! $10 dollars a day? That makes me feel better about my $10 a week habit.
"Planty said investigators believe Donnelly may have won some small jackpots of $5,000 or even $25,000, but it was never enough to cover the amount she had stolen overall."
Oy! So this means that a woman who spent over $2.3 million playing didn't win a big jackpot? Not too encouraging for someone betting $500 to $1,000 a year.
Maybe she should have come to LP and got some advice on how to win, there's people here who claim with the right system and enough money one can make a profit. Or she could have bought a premium memberships and spent $50 (fantasy money) per day per over 100 different lotteries and lost a lot less.
So if someone wins with stolen money, does she get to keep the prize money? What if she did win a big jackpot and then was convicted of theft? Wouldn't this be similar to using another person's credit card to play the lottery?
That makes me feel better about my 6 dollars a week habit. It is a game of chance, it only takes one ticket to win!
If it was my money and she won with it I would have settled out of court for about half the jackpot, anybody wonder about 2 million plus disappearing, this guy had to be making 10 times that much to not miss it .. regardless of how she cooked the books
I was wondering the same thing, that and I wonder how many other people are stealing from this company. It sounds like it's as easy as stealing candy from a baby.
litebets
One thing to be very thankful for: IF YOU WERE NOT THE POOR PERSON STANDING IN LINE BEHIND HER waiting to play your $6 or $10! I'm known to wait 15 or 20 minutes for someone playing "only" $100.
What would you expect? Spending $2.3 million on the lottery pretty much guarantees losing half that amount, because that's how much the state typically takes before money goes into the prize pool. If only 50% of the ticket price goes towards prizes then statistically you should expect to win 50 cents for every dollar you play, and the more money you spend the more likely that your results will be statistically normal. Even if she had spent the money on a game with low odds like NY lotto she would only have had about a 10% chance of winning. If she had spent it on megamillions she'd have had about a 1.3% chance of winning. Anyone with sense spends a modest amount of money and hopes like hell they won't be statistically normal.
Well at least it's a good example to people who spend large amounts per drawing that it doesn't increase your odds, At least if she had bought art with the money the company could have gotten the money back.
She reportedly concentrated on annuity-only scratch games. ANYBODY who plays them has a gambling problem. I wonder how much she blew on NY Lotto?
See, that's why Oprah still signs her own checks...230...2300 in honor of allof that stolen money.
Something sounds fishy about this story. where did she find time to do her job if she was buying as much as 6000 dollars a day worth of tickets. what counter person wouldn't be suspicious of a person buying that many tickets every day or even once a week. Anyone with half a brain knows no body makes 42,000 a week in salary. i have a difficult enough time buying 20 bucks worth of tickets let alone more. Even if she gave the lottery terminal operator a list every day the operator would be spending the whole shift punching out numbers. If she was buying scratch offs every day the store would be sold out of tickets. The lottery might even be suspicious that a store like this would be selling that many tickets.
if she was buying thousands of scratch off where did she find time to scratch off all of her purchases. She would be up night and day it takes about an hour to scratch off 200 tickets.
Also it takes time to check pick 3/4 tickets especially if you have thousands of them to go through. Cash a ticket for more than 600 bucks don't you have to report income since they send you a tax form to file with your taxes.
I would buy this story if they said she spent 600 a day buying tickets but 6 grand give me a break.
I agree that on the surface it would seem fishy. In this case the fish was caught in a small pond. ITs VERY easy to splurge on Pick 3/Pick4 match 6/ Powerball or MegaBall and instant games! Instant games have tickets that cost $20.00 a pop! I buy the story because Ive read how church book keepers steal money for years! ANd the church pardons them! WHy? Because to them its not their money, its the good lords.
A physician office depends on a book keeper! The physician is skilled in medical areas NOT accounting! THus why its imparative to *trust* and audit your book keeper. Yes a physician office ( cardiac, brain or oncologist) make money hand over foot, so its conceivable to see such funds accumulate and dispense quite quickly. The woman was skilled at her job enough to know how to hide funds in accounts. She would have served ENRON well , but that is a whole other topic!
I do think NOT all her thievery went to gambling.
I feel guilty each week when I spend $10.00 on the lottery, so I cannot imagine if it was someone elses money how I could feel any less guilty! Perhaps its a matter of valueing hard earned money.
Could this be a bogus insanity defense? If she was caught stealing and it was because she resented the rich doctors, she won't get off with a slap on the wrist. If she BLAMES her "addiction" on a gambling problem, she might generate a lot of sympathy. Isn't that what people do these days...blame their crimes on someone or something besides their own greed, lust or hatred? If you kill someone for drugs, blame your abusive parents, the drug dealer who got you hooked or society for not accepting you. If you molest a child, then blame the uncle or teacher who hurt you when you were young and cry in front of the camera. So why not say "The Lottery Made Me Do It?"
Just a thought.
Maybe she still has a great deal of the money stashed somewhere and said she blew it all on the lottery so the authorities wouldn't be searching for it. Blowing all of it on the lottery is almost equivalent to saying it went up in smoke. Plus, instead of just being a thieving scoundrel she gets to attain an appearance of being a "victim" herself. I'm sure some people will feel sorry for her rather than despise her. It's a form of the "twinkie defense". Blame one of society's "ills" rather than accept responsibility for ones own actions. Poor woman isn't at fault, she just couldn't help herself. And before someone tries to poke holes in my supposition, just because she is ordered to pay it back doesn't mean she will if she has the money stashed somewhere. Live off the money and pay back what little you can while still providing yourself a living. I don't doubt she probably spent an incredible amount on the lottery, but $6,000 a day? Get real.
Isn't this what I just posted?
We posted at virtually the same time, it just took me longer because I was eating chicken and dumpling soup while I was typing. Don't be paranoid, I wasn't copying you. Sheesh!!!
I've heard some people express the eroneous belief that if you bet and lose, then next game spend twice as much. Yes they did say that strange as it sounds.
That may have been that person's strategy, along with being stuck on stupid for stealing.
I have seen a handful of people over my 13 years of playing the lottery play big on the lottery. They were at special times in the year. It was always during the tax return season and at the holidays mainly christmas. I would be buying tickets and some one would come in and buy a book of scratch-its or if the jackpot was high on powerball $200 to $500 on powerball. I guess I could see someone spending that much money on lottery if they bought books of scratch-its. 5 books of $5 or $10 tickets have to be over $1000. Then 50-$10 powerball tickets that had powerplay on then is $500. Awe what the hell she is an ADDICT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No one should spend that much money on the lottery.-weshar75
Not accusing you of anything, mangeydog! We were
at the same time and I thought it was interesting that we both had the same idea too. Who's paranoid? 
I just type faster...nya, nya!
I've heard some people express the eroneous belief that if you bet and lose, then next game spend twice as much. Yes they did say that strange as it sounds.
Konane,
When I used to vacation in Vegas many years ago, people told me that all the time. If I bet $5 on a Blackjack hand and lost I was told to bet $10 and then $20 and then $40. I finally asked "So what happens when I run out of money?" I read on a site once that in life persistence can often lead to success but in gambling it will inevitably lead to bankruptcy!
Hah!!! Okay, I figured(wrongly) that you were being a stooge about it. My apologies jxp. I'm sure you do type faster than me. I was eating soup so I was typing one handed. Although that's no excuse, I do most things on the internet one-handed.
I agree with you, this woman had another addiction, she had a stealing addiction. This woman got high off of stealing and gambling. I can't even feel sorry for her, its unbelievable how greed infested her life!
She probably went to different stores in a day to purchase, and you can best believe if she was that good she can hide stealing that large amount, she knew how to get around the IRS. Maybe she did'nt purchase the 6000.00 everyday. I've been in line at the stores and have seen people play 100.00 on 1 set of numbers. Maybe she was betting like that. If she bought a system I'd like to know what it was, so I won't make the mistake of buying it in the future.
if she had that much money why play the lottery in the first place?