Pennsylvania Gambling Addict to Prison

Studies have proven that Gambling Addiction increases with proximity.

What a pity Governor Rendell didn't consider the human toll when he promoted predatory gambling.

Former tax collector sentenced for stealing more than $200K

By Carl Hessler Jr., For The Reporter

NORRISTOWN — A former Jenkintown tax collector is headed to prison for stealing more than $200,000 in taxpayers’ money to fuel his gambling addiction.

Michael Henry O’Neill, 51, of Rodman Avenue, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 10 to 23 months in the county prison, to be followed by five years’ probation, after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds received in connection with incidents that occurred between January 2009 and January 2010.

Judge William J. Furber Jr. also ordered O’Neill to pay $252,376 in restitution, which includes the amount that was stolen plus the costs of an audit that had to be conducted by the Jenkintown School District during the investigation.

O’Neill, who had served eight years as tax collector before he resigned in January 2010, is eligible for the work release program during his incarceration.

As a condition of the sentence, Furber barred O’Neill from holding any fiduciary position or elected position in Montgomery County and ordered O’Neill to refrain from gambling.

O’Neill did receive credit for about a month that he previously spent in an inpatient treatment program for his gambling addiction.

“This was a huge, huge breach of the public trust. This was a person who took people’s hard-earned money and gambled it away,” said Assistant District Attorney Kate McGill-Magid, who sought a prison sentence against O’Neill.

O’Neill admitted to authorities that he stole the money to gamble at Philadelphia Park Parx Casino. The investigation determined O’Neill frequented the casino on a weekly basis between September 2007 and December 2009, losing more than $182,000 during that period.

“The (Parx Casino player development host) confirmed that O’Neill played high limit slot machines approximately three times a week,” county Detective Katharine Hart wrote in the arrest affidavit.

Defense lawyer Steven F. Fairlie said O’Neill is remorseful.

“He’s devastated by what he did. He’s the last guy who anyone would have expected to have this problem,” Fairlie said.

“It was all gambled away at the slots. There are no fancy clothes, no fancy house, no fancy car and no expensive dinners,” Fairlie said. “He lost it all.”

Fairlie claimed O’Neill would take the money with the intent to pay it back but that he never caught up to the debt that ensued because he lost at the slots.

By the end of year, when O’Neill was to turn over the tax revenues he collected for the school district, there were not sufficient funds in the account.

As tax collector O’Neill was responsible for collecting real estate taxes for the school district, the borough and the county. There is no allegation that O’Neill stole any money that he collected on behalf of the borough and the county.

The investigation began after Jenkintown officials uncovered discrepancies and suspicious activity regarding the school district’s tax account maintained by O’Neill, according to court papers. Officials, determining O’Neill stole about $201,181 in tax revenues, then contacted county detectives about their suspicions and a joint investigation ensued.