Woman gets jail time for $60,000 booster club theft

Woman gets jail time for $60,000 booster club theft
An Everett woman's admission of a gambling addiction isn't enough to avoid a 90-day sentence.
By Diana Hefley, Herald Writer

EVERETT — An Everett woman was commended for getting help for a gambling addiction, but it wasn't enough to keep her out of jail for stealing nearly $60,000 from Mariner High School's booster club.

Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Michael Downes on Thursday sentenced Patricia Harmon to three months in jail, the maximum under state sentencing guidelines.

Downes declined to grant Harmon a first-time offender waiver as recommend by her attorney and prosecutors. The waiver would have allowed Harmon, 52, to avoid jail. Instead, she would have been under state supervision for two years and required to continue her treatment for a gambling addiction.

Downes wasn't convinced that Harmon should slide without serving some time behind bars.

“You're not here because you have a gambling addiction. You're here because you stole almost $60,000,” Downes said. “In essence you systematically looted the bank account.”

Harmon was the treasurer for the booster club and embezzled money for nearly a decade before she reported the thefts to Snohomish County sheriff's deputies in 2009. She told authorities that she took the money to feed a gambling addiction that she'd kept a secret from her family and friends.

“I am a compulsive gambler. This addiction led me to become a liar, cheat and thief. I was taking money that was not mine to take, always in my mind with the intention of putting it back with that next big win. But I am compulsive gambler, and I now understand there would never be a win, because compulsive gamblers do not ever leave when they win, a compulsive gambler does not leave until every dollar is gone,” Harmon wrote in a letter to the judge.

Harmon hit rock bottom in August 2009 when she contemplated overdosing on her prescription medications, she wrote. Instead she spoke with a pastor and confessed that she'd been stealing from the booster club, a group she volunteered with for nearly 15 years. She reported the thefts to the police, then to the booster club president.

She also came clean with her employers and lost both her part-time jobs, she said.

Harmon said she began attending Gamblers Anonymous meetings and hasn't gambled for more than a year. She found two new part-time jobs and is eager to begin making restitution payments to the club. About 20 people attended Thursday's hearing to support Harmon, saying that she is helping other gambling addicts and has turned her life over to God.

Prosecutors said Harmon would have qualified for a diversion program and avoided prosecution all together. However, they couldn't offer her the program because Harmon was unable to pay back a large portion of the stolen money up front. They charged her with first-degree theft and recommended a first-time offender waiver.

“Imposing jail time, then, would effectively be sending the defendant to jail for not having money,” Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Laura Twitchell wrote.

Harmon's attorney Jill Malat added that her client took responsibility for her actions and made a full confession even though she wasn't under investigation.

“She has changed her life and faced her demons head-on,” Malat said.

Downes said he believes Harmon is remorseful but she'd received leniency in how the case was charged. Given the facts, prosecutors could have sought an exceptional sentence or charged Harmon with a series of crimes.

The reason she couldn't pay back the money up front is because she stole so much, Downes said. He also wasn't convinced that Harmon turned herself in because she wanted to come clean.

Bills for the club were coming due, including paying the deposit to the tour company for a student trip to France, and there wasn't enough in the account to cover those expenses.

“It appears that the game was up anyway,” Downes said.

A representative of the booster club asked Downes to send Harmon to jail. Her actions affected about 500 students, who had worked hard to raise money for their clubs.