Gambling cited in theft from parents

Gambling cited in theft from parents
Police say woman fed casino slots with looted cash

Norwich, Conn. — A 53-year-old Canterbury woman who police said gambled away nearly $250,000 on slot machines at Mohegan Sun is due in court this week to face charges she spent $110,000 of her parents’ money.

Judith A. LePage was charged with first-degree larceny following investigation by Norwich police into money that started disappearing from her parents’ bank accounts in 2006. It was the year LePage’s parents were admitted into a nursing home in Montville and she took control of the finances. Her father died six months after he was admitted to the nursing home.

LePage’s brother, David Tedeschi, told police he starting getting suspicious of his sister when she opened a bank account to deposit $60,000 worth of her parents’ insurance checks. Most of the money was either withdrawn or transferred to LePage’s own account, police records show.

When confronted by her brother about the money, police said LePage was at times apologetic and indignant in recorded phone messages.

“Just give me a break. Pretend I’m a stranger that you’d be nice to and give a break, OK? I shouldn’t have done that and I’m sorry,” according to a police warrant affidavit. “It’s definitely 100 percent my fault and I’m gonna have to go to jail. Just put me in jail.”

Suspicious activity
Investigation into the finances by Norwich Police Detective Mark Lounsbury turned up an array of suspicious bank and credit card transactions and unexplained expenditures.

A check of LePage’s mother’s bank account showed 136 transactions. Most were transfers to LePage’s account and cash withdrawals, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.

Credit card used
Use of her parents’ credit card account jumped dramatically between Jan. 19, 2007, and May 5, 2009. Police said the total amount charged was $27,521, which included cash advances, late payments and finance charges. The amount also included $16,396 from Peapod, an online food purchase and delivery service, with an average monthly bill of $585. The amount did not match what her mother alone could eat, police confirmed.

In total, between money taken from savings and checking accounts, transfers to her own accounts and purchases on a credit card, police estimate she siphoned $111,673 from her parents’ accounts, police said.

In an interview with police, LePage, who records show was an employee with the state Department of Social Services in Norwich, said she had always been there for her parents. She also said her husband committed suicide in 2006 at which time she became sick. She explained that many of the withdrawals did not go to her, but to her mother and others on behalf of her mother. She also said she had $80,000 in credit card bills and an apartment house mortgage to pay.

She admitted that portions of the $500 to $700 monthly grocery bills were for herself and her son. She said she had taken $60,000 in total from her mother’s bank accounts which she intended to return.

$225,000 lost to slots
Mohegan Sun patron records obtained by police showed she lost nearly $225,000 playing slot machines between 2001 and her arrest this year. Those years had included $21,000 in losses in 2003 and 2004, a $27,813 loss in 2005 and a $10,339 loss in 2006.

In 2007, the year after she took control of her parents’ finances, records showed she lost $62,071 at the casino followed by a $49,588 loss in 2008.

LePage is due to appear Thursday in Norwich Superior Court.