63 Year Old Gambling Addict Sentenced to Prison

Springfield Township's ex-secretary gets six to 18 years for embezzlement
By ED PALATTELLA, Erie Times-News

Nancy J. Brown had one number working in her favor as she stood in court for sentencing -- 63, her age.

Brown had a much larger number working against her -- $388,770.75, the amount of public money she embezzled over eight and a half years as secretary of Springfield Township in western Erie County.

Erie County Judge Shad Connelly considered the two numbers, as well as several other factors, and applied them to his calculus of justice on Tuesday.

Connelly announced his final sum: six to 18 years, the length of Brown's state prison sentence. She must pay restitution to the township, which spent $6,500 in out-of-pocket expenses to investigate, and its insurers, which covered the loss of the embezzled amount.

"The extent of this criminal activity is almost staggering, almost incomprehensible," Connelly told Brown, who gambled away most of the money. "For eight and a half years, you never said, 'I need help.'"

Brown, thin and frail and speaking softly, apologized.

She told Connelly she could not stop writing checks to herself from the township's general fund until the supervisors caught her in June 2010 and fired her. Brown, whom state police charged in September, said she was a good person.

"I was so out of control," Brown said.

The sentence was in the standard range of the sentencing guidelines for Brown, of the 6300 block of Wheeler Road, who had no prior record and had worked for the 3,300-person township for 19 years. She pleaded guilty to nine felony counts of theft in July, and faced a statutory maximum sentence of 63 years.

Brown's lawyer, Damon Hopkins, asked Connelly to sentence her to house arrest and probation, mainly because of her age, health problems and what Hopkins said would be her inability to help others if she were incarcerated.

"Locking her up will prevent her from making this right," Hopkins said.

He said Brown started taking money to pay for medical expenses for her daughter. To try to recoup the initial amount, Hopkins said, Brown stole more money and gambled at Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel in Niagara Falls, N.Y., and then Presque Isle Downs & Casino, which opened in 2007 in Summit Township.

Hopkins said Brown's debts deepened and her gambling worsened. In 2009 alone, she embezzled nearly $76,000.

"It was basically the gambler's creed: I'll get it back," Hopkins said.

District Attorney Jack Daneri took no position at the sentencing, and no one spoke on behalf of the township.

Connelly recounted how the supervisors' trust in Brown enabled her to write the checks to herself. The township requires two signatures on each check, so Brown signed her name and used a signature stamp to sign a supervisor's name.

Brown, paid $17,000 a year, controlled the oversight of the township's $600,000 annual budget. Connelly said she stole from the township nearly every day for eight and a half years, or about 3,000 days.

"It is hard to overlook all these facts," Connelly said. "What is very disconcerting to the court is she basically stole money from her friends and neighbors -- these are the people that pay taxes to the township."

After Brown's arrest, the Springfield Township supervisors eliminated the signature stamps and mandated all checks be signed in person.

While those kinds of safeguards are meant to prevent white-collar crime, Connelly said, his sentence of Brown should be considered deterrence as well. The penalty of six to 18 years showed how quickly the numbers can add up against someone in an embezzlement case.

"White-collar crimes," Connelly said, "are perhaps the only crimes in which the courts actually have an impact on others in the community."