A Maryland woman has been sentenced to eight years of imprisonment for supposed embezzlement. The woman was charged on one count of theft in the amount of over $100,000. Apparently, the woman has pled guilty to the charges and claimed that a gambling addiction had driven her to take the money from the company she had worked at for a number of years. Besides the prison sentence, she is also expected to pay at least a certain amount of restitution as well.
The woman’s attorney stated that she is receiving counseling for her gambling problem and has been actively helping other gamblers recover from their addiction. Though her attorney also asked for a reduced sentence to allow her to continue on with her therapy, the Assistant State Attorney called for a sentence above the state guidelines of 5 to 10 years.
As in many criminal defense matters, there is a dispute as to how much money purportedly was taken. Whenever there is such a dispute, the burden does remain upon the prosecution to prove that their version of the story is correct.
Sadly, there are cases where individuals struggle with their own personal issues and sometimes engage in activity that could result in criminal fines or imprisonment. As in the above woman’s circumstances, we have found that gambling and other addiction issues can result in the destruction of individuals’ lives.
The attorneys for such individuals will attempt to point out that person’s struggles. They will also attempt to put their clients in touch with resources that may allow them to work through their personal issues, and work towards other ways for the person to serve out their sentence than through incarceration.
Source: The Frederick News-Post, “New Market woman to serve eight years for embezzlement,” by Danielle E. Gaines, June 6, 2013
