Yet they allow Gambling Addicts to continue to Gamble even though they have 'played to extinction.'
Judge tosses plea of Palmer Twp. bookkeeper charged with embezzling $220,000
After her failure to make restitution, Lower Nazareth Twp. woman again faces trial.
A judge has rejected a plea deal for Teri L. Romanishan, charged with embezzling… (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO, THE…)
May 01, 2012|By Riley Yates, Of The Morning Call The amount Teri L. Romanishan admitted she embezzled from her Palmer Township employer: $221,181.
The amount she'd paid back nearly five months after her guilty plea: $0.
On Tuesday, Romanishan was in Northampton County Court facing sentencing for stealing from Magnetic Windings on Freemansburg Avenue, with prosecutors and her defense attorney having negotiated a one- to two-year prison term.
But citing Romanishan's failure to make any restitution, and the opposition of her former employer to the bargain, Judge Stephen Baratta instead rejected the deal and tossed her guilty plea.
"I was expecting some attempts at restitution and there haven't been any," Baratta told Romanishan.
Romanishan, Magnetic Windings' bookkeeper, was charged with writing 47 checks to herself or for petty cash that she pocketed over a year ending in August.
The 47-year-old Lower Nazareth Township woman originally faced 47 separate counts of theft, receiving stolen property and misapplying entrusted funds, but she pleaded guilty in December to just a single felony theft charge.
Magnetic Windings makes custom transformers, power supplies and electronic assemblies. The company's attorney, Steven N. Goudsouzian, said his clients were unhappy with the plea agreement, which called for a sentence at the bottom of recommended guidelines.
"One to two years isn't sufficient for the gravity of these crimes," Goudsouzian said.
Romanishan claimed the money went to support her two children, one in college, the other struggling with heroin addiction. She tried to recoup what she'd taken by gambling, and reported she lost $150,000 doing so — including $49,000 at Mount Airy Casino Resort and $45,000 at the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, Baratta said.
"Apparently, she wasn't successful," Baratta noted.
In court, Romanishan said that since her arrest she has held jobs, but has quit them given uncertainties in her pending case. Her lawyer, Gary Asteak, argued that a longer sentence could end up being counterproductive to the goal of getting Magnetic Windings back its money.
"Every week or month that she serves in jail is another week or month in which she can't get a job and make restitution," Asteak said.
Assistant District Attorney Constance Nelson also defended the plea bargain, saying it was reasonable and forced Romanishan to commit to making full restitution.
But Baratta said he doubted the company will ever be made whole, regardless, given the amount and her apparent lack of assets.
"She's not going to be able to pay it back, let's face it," he said.
Romanishan remains free on bail, and she is now back to facing trial. Asteak said he does not know how the case will proceed in light of Baratta's decision.
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