"I turned myself in after gambling losses spiraled"

Polish Union embezzler Lisa Bleich: I turned myself in after gambling losses spiraled
By John S. Hausman Muskegon Chronicle

The woman charged with embezzling more than $10,000 from Muskegon's Polish Union admits she did it but says she turned herself in — as opposed to being caught by a treasurer doing the books, contrary to an earlier report.

In an interview Friday with a Chronicle reporter, Lisa Bleich (pronounced "Bly"), 51, of Muskegon blamed her embezzlement on a gambling addiction, for which she said she's now receiving help.

She said she spent all the stolen money on Club Keno games at the Polish Union, 1890 Henry. As bar manager, she had control of the lodge's money from bar and gambling revenues.

Bleich said she was always able to pay her bills, also contrary to an earlier report, but turned herself in to the lodge treasurer when she realized she would never be able to repay the lodge for the embezzled money she had lost gambling.

“I did embezzle money,” she said. “I gambled all of it. None of it left that building. I have a gambling addiction. I'm getting help now.

“I kept playing and playing because I was winning at one time,” Bleich said. “Then I kept losing. I was playing to try to win the money back. I guess I didn't realize what I was doing.”

She said she never meant to keep the Polish Union's money, just recoup her losses. “I plan on paying it back. I always intended on paying it back. I didn't rip them off; I mismanaged it,” she said.

“Yes, it's embezzlement, but I didn't mean to do anything wrong. I got out of control.”

She said the embezzlement went on for “just a couple of months” before she confessed and was fired Sept. 12. Bleich insisted she had never done such a thing before and said the total she took from the club was slightly more than $10,000.

She said her actions have ruined her life.

“I was devastated,” she said. “I never stole a penny from anybody in my entire life, and that Club Keno just grabbed me and took me away.

“Now I'm losing the respect of the people, I'm losing my house, I'm losing my car.”

Bleich was arraigned Monday in Muskegon County's 60th District Court on a charge of embezzlement by agent or trustee of at least $1,000 but less than $20,000. That's punishable by a maximum of five years in prison.

Chief Judge Harold F. Closz III set bond at $10,000, 10 percent, which Bleich posted, and scheduled a preliminary examination for next Thursday.