I'm Sorry

Isn't there a certain culpability when "Slot Barns" are privvy to personal information and yet continue to allow individuals to gambling?

Beacon Hill was asked to require that monthly loss statements be mailed to patrons. It was defeated.

Loss limits were not included in Beacon Hill's legislation. Why inconvenience the Industry?

Beacon Hill supported 24/7/365 free alcohol (well...except for, was it 20 minutes?) and approved of Slot Barns offering loans.

House Members genuflected to Speaker DeLeo's Fairy Tale and promises of chairmenships. And the Senate followed like sheep.

This is the human cost.

"Casinos" don't exist without Addiction.



Randi Matthews at sentencing: 'I'm sorry'


HERKIMER — The wife of a former Fairfield town supervisor said simply, “I’m sorry,” as she was sentenced to state prison Friday after previously pleading guilty to stealing nearly $378,000 in town funds to fuel a gambling addiction.

Randi Matthews, 42, was sentenced by Herkimer County Court Judge Patrick Kirk to 4½ to 13½ years in prison, with credit for about six months of time served. She had pleaded guilty Oct. 8 to felony second-degree grand larceny.

Matthews also was ordered to repay $377,967.95 in funds stolen from the town. Without a specific payment schedule in place, however, it’s questionable whether the town will see those funds, defense attorney George Aney said.

“Just the interest on something like that at the legal rate would be prohibitive,” Aney said. “I think the town was entitled to that judgment because that’s what they were able to show …. But whether they collect it or not is very, very remote at best.”

Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey Carpenter said it will be up to Fairfield town officials to file a civil case seeking payment of that judgment, and that they would have the ability to garnish Matthews’ future wages and seize any other significant forms of income until the debt was paid.

Carpenter also said he was “satisfied” with the sentence, which fell just short of the 15-year maximum applicable under law.

“This woman stole from her neighbors, her friends, hardworking people who pay taxes in the town of Fairfield, and it obviously caused a great hardship on the town,” he said.

Matthews previously acknowledged that she forged documents and tampered with public records in order to conceal thefts between May 2006 and November 2009. At the time, she was helping her husband, then-town Supervisor Frank Matthews, manage the town finances. She has said Frank Matthews knew nothing of the thefts.

Carpenter read a letter from a Fairfield resident during the sentencing, in which the woman expressed his displeasure with Randi Matthews’ actions.

The town, he said later, paraphrasing the letter, had “a proud history of 200 years, and now her name will forever be in the history books when it comes to the town of Fairfield.”

Aney said Matthews spent the stolen funds at Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona to support a gambling addiction. He also said Friday that she likely is to take advantage of addiction treatment programs while incarcerated.

“She’ll take advantage of every type of program that they offer,” he said. “She’s that anxious to get her life back on track.”

An investigation into the thefts and whether anyone else was involved is ongoing, Carpenter said.