Employee who stole for gambling binge gets jail time
Riley Yates, Of The Morning Call
August 24, 2012
A Bethlehem convenience store manager who pocketed thousands of dollars to fuel a gambling addiction will spend nine to 23 months in Northampton County Prison.
Celeste G. Sigley needs to get a job and begin earning back the $35,749 she took from Taylor Family Fuel and Mini Mart, said Judge Paula Roscioli, who granted immediate work release.
"I want you to be paying restitution," Roscioli told the 55-year-old Bethlehem woman on Friday.
Sigley was caught in December after Chester Taylor, the owner of the S. New Street store, discovered that eight days of bank deposits totaling more than $25,000 hadn't been made.
"My family and employees are still paying a huge price for her theft," Taylor wrote Roscioli. "Insurance didn't come close to covering it."
When Sigley was confronted, she admitted to stealing from her employer for the last couple of years. She had $4,451 in her apartment from her most recent thefts, and had "gambled away the remainder of the money," according to court records.
"It was a stupid thing to do," Sigley, who went to the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem three times a week, told a probation officer after she pleaded guilty in May to a felony theft charge. [This makes a mockery of the pretense of 'Responsible Gambling Programs.]
Sigley, who had been free on bail, was sent to prison in handcuffs immediately, despite a request by defense attorney Susan Hutnik that she be given a week to report.
"She's going to begin serving her sentence today," Roscioli said.
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/police/mc-bethlehem-store-manager-theft-gambling-20120824,0,7806602.story
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