What can Toronto learn from Montreal’s downtown casino?

“I lost everything,” he said in French. His eyes turned red and welled up with tears when he mentioned a friend who killed himself after doing the same.

Casino employees are not permitted to speak to media on the record, but three confirmed that a few gamblers, not wanting to leave their seats for the washrooms, have been known to relieve themselves on the carpets. Others wear diapers into the building.

Long-standing rumours of suicides on the premises persist. But according to Quebec coroner’s office, there is only one on record: 46-year-old Daniel Naudi shot himself in the head in the casino parking lot in 2001 after, according to his family, he lost a large sum of money.

Naudi had signed up for the self-exclusion list — whereby gamblers ask the casino not to let them in any more — but had taken himself off the list one year before his death. “There is place to question whether inclusion of Naudi on the self-exclusion list could have prevented his suicide,” reads the coroner’s report.

Wherever the deaths occur, there’s a clear link between gambling and suicide in the province. Between 2001 and 2009, the most recent available data, 246 people killed themselves due to problem gambling. (The death is considered gambling-related if a suicide note mentions gambling, or if family confirm the death was related to a gambling addiction.)


What can Toronto learn from Montreal’s downtown casino?
Wendy Gillis Staff Reporter
The Star

MONTREAL — It’s 1:22 a.m. and Marie, holding a cup of stale coffee in her left hand, repeatedly hits the green ‘Play’ button with her right. She doesn’t dare take her eyes off the glowing purple screen a few inches from her face.

On either side of the frigid St. Lawrence river, most of Montreal is sleeping. But she and hundreds of others are slouched atop stools under flashing coloured lights, feeding $20s into one of 3,200 slot machines at the city’s island gambling mecca, Casino Montreal.

“I like to come late, around 11 or midnight,” Marie (not her real name) says in French over the dissonant chorus of ringing slot machines. “That’s when it’s less busy.”

If Torontonians want to see what could happen if a casino set up shop, this five-storey building on a man-made island may be the best place to look.

Related: Do casinos drive up the crime rate?


Nearly 20 years ago, Montreal became the first major Canadian city to open a casino. The same debate now dividing Toronto city hall raged in Quebec in 1992, when a gaming house was suggested as a way to help fill depleting provincial coffers.

Detractors predicted the casino would draw prostitutes and pimps, prompt pawn shops and create jobs, indeed — for loan sharks and drug pushers. The mayor of the Mount Royal suburb called it morally bankrupt; in a leaked confidential letter to the province’s tourism minister, Montreal’s chief of police warned of the potential for an increase in crime.

But with a growing number of Quebecers heading south for their gambling fix (between 1988 and 1992 alone, the number going to U.S. casinos doubled, according to Loto-Quebec) Montreal opted to take advantage of the huge profit potential. In a 1992 municipal vote, councillors resoundingly voted in a casino.

One year later, the building’s glass doors opened on Ile de Notre Dame, an island constructed for Expo ’67. It’s been a vache d’argent — cash cow — ever since, winning the Quebec government about $200 million per year, $4.1 billion since the first cards were dealt. Unlike a cut of the revenue expected for Toronto if the casino comes to town, the City of Montreal gets no portion of those profits.

The casino’s early success was thanks not to beginner’s luck but to Montreal’s insatiable gambling appetite. More than 12,000 people regularly flocked to the casino per day, far surpassing the anticipated 5,000. The enthusiasm persisted, and three years (and 10 million visits) later, Loto-Quebec, the government agency that operates the province’s four casinos, expanded its Montreal location into a nearby building.

Soon after, security guards stopped kicking out gamblers at the 5 a.m. closing time; in 1997 the government began hosting a 24-7 party.

“I’ve got nowhere else to be,” said smiling truck driver Klause Mueller, betting $25 on red at 4 a.m. on a recent Tuesday morning. The roulette tables teem with eager gamblers, some running around placing chips on various tables, jittery from the free coffee.

In the high-roller sections, the real money ($1,000 bets, anyone?) is spent at blackjack and poker tables.

“It’s going really well for us,” says Germain Guitor, vice-president of sales and marketing for Quebec’s casinos. “I think we’re managing a really good business, we have a great customer base, we’re doing some exciting things, and we’re contributing to the economy, to society.”

The casino’s close yet remote location has been an important factor. Though it’s near downtown, gamblers must drive or take the subway and a shuttle bus to the island facility. It’s what an Ontario Place casino might be: near the city centre, but not a five-minute trip you make on your lunch hour.

The relative isolation has allowed security and police to keep a watchful eye, said Lieut. Ian Lafrenière, a spokesperson for the Montreal police. Despite warnings of increased crime, there are zero statistics to suggest a spike in illegal activity, he said.

That said, “we’re not stupid,” Lafrenière added; organized crime can be present wherever there’s potential to make money. But the types of crimes that tend to be committed around casinos, such as loan sharking, are usually not reported, making them difficult to monitor. He also says the impact of the casino on crime may be felt in other parts of the city.

Nonetheless, police have barely had to increase their presence on the island, in the form of two paid-duty police officers who help direct traffic. The casino’s security staff and many cameras keep careful watch inside and outside the building.

The importance of the location became apparent when, in 2006, Loto-Quebec tried to move the casino. The ambitious project — a casino, hotel and entertainment project with Cirque du Soleil — was not possible on the island, so Loto-Quebec suggested Pointe St. Charles.

The inner-city neighbourhood near the downtown is populated by many low-income people, and there was a massive backlash from community groups and problem gambling experts who said the location could lead to trouble.

“Where it is now, it takes a certain amount of effort to get there, and we didn’t want that to change,” said Jean-François Biron, a researcher with Montreal’s health and social services agency and an author on a study of the possible casino move. “We concluded that it would not contribute to the health of Montrealers and, to the contrary, could have created problems.”

The project was shelved because of the opposition. Loto-Quebec has instead taken on a billion-dollar renovation project to keep the casino competitive in a market that it says has increased ten-fold in the past decade, with the explosion of casinos in Canada and the U.S., VLTs in bars and the proliferation of online gambling.

Still, the St. Lawrence has not buffered the city from social problems. Signs of pathological gambling aren’t hard to spot in rooms where some gamblers spend hour after hour at the slots or so-called one-armed bandits, entranced and unmoving.

Casino employees are not permitted to speak to media on the record, but three confirmed that a few gamblers, not wanting to leave their seats for the washrooms, have been known to relieve themselves on the carpets. Others wear diapers into the building.

Long-standing rumours of suicides on the premises persist. But according to Quebec coroner’s office, there is only one on record: 46-year-old Daniel Naudi shot himself in the head in the casino parking lot in 2001 after, according to his family, he lost a large sum of money.

Naudi had signed up for the self-exclusion list — whereby gamblers ask the casino not to let them in any more — but had taken himself off the list one year before his death. “There is place to question whether inclusion of Naudi on the self-exclusion list could have prevented his suicide,” reads the coroner’s report.

Wherever the deaths occur, there’s a clear link between gambling and suicide in the province. Between 2001 and 2009, the most recent available data, 246 people killed themselves due to problem gambling. (The death is considered gambling-related if a suicide note mentions gambling, or if family confirm the death was related to a gambling addiction.)

Geneviève Guilbault, spokesperson for the provincial coroner, could not say if the casino’s presence prompted an increase in suicides because the office cannot get figures from 1993 without an access-to-information request, she said.

According to Sol Boxenbaum, a gambling addiction counsellor and critic of government-run gambling, many gambling suicides are not recorded as such because of the prevailing stigma. When one of his clients committed suicide a few years ago, the death was not documented as gambling-related because the man’s family would not confirm that he was an addict.

Gambling has also increased homelessness, said Matthew Pearce, executive director of Old Brewery Mission, a downtown Montreal homeless shelter.

“The casino, and state-sponsored gambling such as lottos, is — and I’ll say it categorically — a generator of homelessness,” he said. “The state is creating homelessness on one hand and then trying to support organizations like ours on the other.”

More than other types of addiction they see at the shelter, such as drinking and drugs, gambling is extremely difficult to resolve, Pearce said.

One man staying at Old Brewery Mission, who asked for anonymity, said he became addicted to gambling after the Montreal casino opened.

“I lost everything,” he said in French. His eyes turned red and welled up with tears when he mentioned a friend who killed himself after doing the same.

“It’s a very, very powerful addiction, gambling. And most addicted are the governments right now,” Boxenbaum said. “They don’t want to know about the consequences; they just want the instant gratification.”

Among the major criticisms of the Montreal casino is that just 10 per cent of the visits come from outside the province — meaning the majority of the money brought in is from Quebecers.

It’s what Quebec calls a voluntary tax — “you get the same services whether you play or not, it’s a choice,” said Jean-Pierre Roy, spokesperson with Loto-Quebec.

Both Roy and Guitor say that for the vast majority of their clients, a visit to the casino is like going to a show or out for dinner. People don’t feel they’re losing money, he says; they’re spending it, with the added bonus that they might get it back, and then some.

“The truth is, I personally think I have one of the most noble jobs in Quebec, because gambling is … a leisure activity,” said Guitor. “This company satisfies that need or that want for diversion or excitement, and the monies that we collect and contribute to society contribute positively to the collectivity of Quebec.”

That’s not to say that Loto-Quebec doesn’t acknowledge there are problem gamblers, he said. Casino staff are trained to watch for signs of addiction — there are employees whose full-time job is to watch for people who have put themselves on the self-exclusion list.

Loto-Quebec also contributes $22 million to the ministry of health and social services to help fund prevention and educational programs and hotlines, and the province recently earned the highest level of certification for responsible gambling by the World Lottery Association.

So what are the odds that Toronto will get a casino?

Montrealers at the casino, perhaps not surprisingly, can’t agree on whether it’s a good bet.

“Do it, and let me smoke, let me drink, and I’ll come,” said Louis Panichelli, enjoying a drink at the bar, the only place you’re allowed to consume alcohol at the casino. “Toronto will have to loosen up, though.”

Outside on a smoke break, Martine Laroche, disagrees, saying it will encourage too many people to come.

Back at the slots, where he’s just won $40 thanks to triple 7s, 78-year-old Andre Ouellette laughs uproariously upon learning Toronto doesn’t have a casino.

“Why not?” he says, regaining his composure. “Though I guess it’s really up to you.”

Montreal Casino, by the numbers

• Annual profits to Quebec government: $200 million

• Total profits since the casino opened in 1993: $4.1 billion

• Total visits since the casino opened: 108 million

• Visits per year: 6 million

• Visitors: 90% from Quebec; 10% out of province

• Average age of gambler: 57

• Employees: 3,000

• Average visit: 4 hours

Second man convicted in multi-state ID scam

Another interesting article about crime that fails to identify the venues involved, concealing their names.

Second man convicted in multi-state ID scam
February 11, 2010
By John Lynds

A Texas man has been convicted in federal court last week of helping a convicted East Boston man steal credit cards from health club locker rooms and take more than $400,000 in cash advances at horse race tracks in at least 10 states.

Dennis Savarese, of Texas, was convicted of conspiracy, aggravated identity theft and identity fraud.

Savarese conspired with at least four others, including Arthur Rizzo, 53, of East Boston, to steal credit cards from health club locker rooms all over the country and then use those cards to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash.

In January 2009, Rizzo pled guilty to conspiring, with at least four others, to commit identity fraud, access device fraud and wire fraud.

Rizzo admitted to providing his co-conspirators with fake state identification cards bearing the names from stolen credit cards with photographs of the defendants. According to the indictment, the other defendants then traveled to horse tracks around the country where they took large cash advances on the stolen credit cards using the fake ID’s as identification.

When Rizzo was convicted, it was revealed that on a weekly basis, for more than two years, Savarese traveled around the country and broke into lockers at two different nationwide gyms. After Savarese stole the credit cards, he then transferred the names from the credit cards to Rizzo or one of his co-conspirators in Massachusetts who purchased fake identifications with photos of Savarese or one of his co-conspirators and the names from the stolen cards. Then, on weekends, Savarese met up with one or more of the other defendants at racetracks and casinos all over the country to use those stolen credit cards to take thousands of dollars in fraudulent cash advances.

Sentencing for Savarese is scheduled for April 27, at 2:00 p.m. He faces up to five years in prison on the conspiracy charge; on the aggravated identity theft charges he faces up to two years on each count; and up to 10 years on the identity theft fraud count.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Secret Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation – New England Field Division and the Boston Police Department and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Adam J. Bookbinder of Ortiz’s Computer Crime Unit and Sarah E. Walters of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit.

Filling our prisons with gambling addicts

Massachusetts has not yet opened a Slot Barn, yet we are already funding the crimes of Gambling Addicts.

Note in the articles below, the source of Gambling Addiction is not specified. Why?

Mass. man admits to stealing from synagogue
April 11, 2012

WORCESTER, Mass.—A Worcester man has been sentenced to up to five years in prison after pleading guilty to stealing tens of thousands of dollars' worth of religious artifacts from a synagogue where he worked as a custodian.

Prosecutors say 29-year-old Donald Spencer III sold the gold and silver items for money to support a gambling addiction.

He was sentenced Tuesday in Worcester Superior Court.

The items included Torah shields, a Havdalah spice container and tower and a Kiddush goblet. Synagogue officials estimated their value at more than $70,000.

Investigators were told many of the artifacts were irreplaceable, and some had been recovered from Nazi Germany. Some were returned to Temple Emanuel by police, but most were melted down.

The Telegram & Gazette (http://bit.ly/IkvFGo) reports that Spencer's lawyer requested a lighter sentence.


Prison for temple thief
By Gary V. Murray TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER — A city man was sentenced to state prison yesterday after admitting in court that he stole tens of thousands of dollars worth of religious artifacts from a local synagogue and pawned them for money to support his gambling addiction.

Donald E. Spencer III, 29, of 42 Stebbins St., was adjudicated a common and notorious thief and sentenced to 4 to 5 years in state prison yesterdayafter pleading guilty in Worcester Superior Court to 10 counts of larceny of more than $250, and four counts of larceny of less than $250.

Assistant District Attorney John A. O’Leary told Judge James R. Lemire that Mr. Spencer stole religious artifacts made of gold and sterling silver last year from Temple Emanuel at 280 May St., where he was employed as a custodian, and sold the items at the Gold Buyers, a pawnshop at 750 Grafton St.

The items included Torah shields, crowns and pointers, a Havdalah spice container and tower and a Kiddush goblet, which were appraised at a total value of more than $30,000 in 2004, according to a police report in the case.

Investigators were told many of the artifacts were irreplaceable, and some had been recovered from Nazi Germany. Some were returned to Temple Emanuel by police, but most were melted down for scrap, according to the report.

Mr. O’Leary said police went to the pawnshop Nov. 17 after a member of Temple Emanuel reported seeing items for sale there that appeared to have been stolen from the synagogue.

Investigators were told that Mr. Spencer had been selling damaged or crushed gold and silver items to the store for a period of time. Store employees said Mr. Spencer told them he was a rubbish man and came into possession of the items while cleaning out a former church.

When confronted by police, Mr. Spencer admitted stealing the artifacts and pawning them in exchange for cash, according to Mr. O’Leary. Another police report in the case indicates he also admitted crushing some of the items before selling them as scrap metal.

Temple Emanuel officials said 31 artifacts with an estimated value of $73,400 were stolen from the synagogue. Mr. O’Leary said the temple expected its insurer to cover the cost of the stolen items, minus a $2,500 deductible.

Mr. O’Leary recommended that Mr. Spencer be adjudicated a common and notorious thief and sentenced to 6 to 8 years’ imprisonment with probation and restitution.

A common and notorious thief adjudication increases the maximum allowable sentence for larceny from 5 to 20 years.

Mr. Spencer’s lawyer, Lynne S. Martin, recommended a prison term of 2 to 3 years, with probation.

Ms. Martin said her client stole the artifacts to support his gambling addiction. The only other crime on his record, she said, was a 2009 larceny conviction that landed Mr. Spencer on probation for 5 years.

As conditions of probation in that case, Mr. Spencer was ordered to pay $45,000 in restitution and attend Gamblers Anonymous meetings.

Ms. Martin said Mr. Spencer attended the meetings and was doing well, but then had a “relapse.”

His probation officer, Melissa Charlton, told Judge Lemire Mr. Spencer paid a total of $2,500 in restitution since being placed on probation in 2009.

When asked by Judge Lemire, Ms. Charlton said the advisory sentencing guidelines for the new charges to which Mr. Spencer pleaded guilty called for a sentence of 36 to 54 months.

Judge Lemire sentenced Mr. Spencer to 4 to 5 years’ imprisonment on the new charges and to a concurrent term of 4 to 5 years on a violation of his probation from the 2009 larceny case. Mr. Spencer was given credit for 146 days he spent in custody awaiting trial.

Casino Crimes: Who is being protected?

A crime takes place on Slot Barn property and the media report fails to name the business? What other business is equally protected?

Isle of Capri is the Slot Barn closest to Sulphur. Was that the location?

Who is being protected by failing to name the location?



Sulphur man arrested after incident at local casino
Boudreaux facing several charges
By Staff reports
Posted Apr 10, 2012

Sulphur, La. — An incident inside of a local casino has led to the arrest of Ron A. Boudreaux, 33, of Loretto Avenue in Sulphur, on charges of simple burglary of a motor vehicle, theft over $500, simple criminal damage to property, and intimidating a victim.
It was on March 1, 2012, that Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies were dispatched to a business regarding a report of a burglary and theft of a vehicle.
According to officials, after a reported verbal altercation inside the casino between the alleged victim and Boudreaux, the Sulphur man allegedly went to the victim’s vehicle in the parking lot, shattered the front passenger window and reportedly stole her phone and laptop computer.
Detectives with the Vehicle Crimes Investigation were also notified by the victim that she had recently been allegedly receiving numerous intimidating and threatening text messages from Boudreaux.
Boudreaux reportedly confirmed to detectives that he shattered the victim’s front passenger window and stole her cell phone and laptop from inside the vehicle.
On April 5, Boudreaux was arrested and booked into the Calcasieu Correctional Center. Judge Clayton Davis set his bond at $62,000.
CPSO Detective Chadwick LeJune is the lead investigator on this case.

Pennsylvania: Escaping Culpability?

The Gambling Industry loudly proclaims that they are working for 'Responsible Gambling,' whatever that is. They conduct these phony training sessions to instruct their employees to spot 'Gambling Addicts,' yet no one has ever testified that they have been approached about their Gambling Addiction. There is no witness to the efficacy of these phony claims.

The list of categories on the right side is far too long, yet the time has come to add two additional categories that should be tracked -

1. The phony claims of the Gambling Industry should be tracked. This Gambling Addict used her employer's credit card to book rooms. Where's the culpability? We'll just call that 'phony claims.'

2. In neither article was the Slot Barn(s) named. The media is protecting a venue that ignored a patron's inability to fund her addiction. Let's acknowledge that the Slot Barn is tracking your play, performance and expenditures. They know all about you. They also know you can't afford to spend the embezzled funds. We'll just call that 'Concealed.'

In neither of the blogs below was the venue named --

Casino Watch Focus

Fraud Talk

Former York Symphony Orchestra employee pleads guilty to stealing $200,000
By JAMIE McCUNE
For the Daily Record/Sunday News

A former York Symphony Orchestra employee admitted in court Wednesday to stealing more than $200,000 from the symphony to cover her gambling addiction.
Phyllis A. Shoff, 56, of New Cumberland, will serve 9 to 23 months in York County Prison, followed by 10 years' probation for theft and access-device fraud.

"I wrote them to myself to cover my gambling debts, and so my family wouldn't know," a tearful Shoff said Wednesday as she confessed to using the symphony's checkbook to write checks to herself that covered food, bills and hotel rooms for casino trips.

During her eight years as office manager, Shoff wrote checks to herself and to the name "Phyllis A. LoPresti" totaling almost $150,000. She also used two credit cards and a local bank card - meant to purchase symphony supplies - for bills and gambling expenses. Those charges totaled almost $70,000.

Shoff must pay $177,967.85 in restitution to Federal Insurance Co., the company that insures the YSO. Additionally, she will pay $42,994.78 to the YSO for the amount not covered by insurance.

"I'm satisfied with it," said Henry Nixon, former executive director of the symphony, who first alerted police to the theft. "When something like this happens, it's very personal."

Nixon, who attended Wednesday's hearing, said Shoff's sentence met his main criteria of seeing her serve jail time and preventing her from being able to steal from an employer again.

"That was critical to me. She's never going to be able to hold a job where she can handle money. That gives me a lot of satisfaction," Nixon said.

Shoff had no comment after the trial.

"It is what it is. It's what you heard in the courtroom," said James Rader, Shoff's public defender.

Nixon said the thefts did not affect the symphony's programs.

Symphony treasurer Jolleen Biesecker provided a victim impact statement during Shoff's hearing.

"There will likely be donors that never return. Ultimately, we had people trust us with their money, and it was stolen from us," the statement reads. "Phyllis's actions have caused some of our volunteers to become disillusioned as well as wary about continuing to work to raise money for an organization whose employee was able to do what was done."

Judge Gregory Snyder rejected an initial plea deal that required Shoff to serve only 3 to 23 months in prison, followed by probation. The original plea took into consideration Shoff's medical condition and gambling addiction, according to the prosecution.


The full sentence
In addition to her prison term and probation, Phyllis A. Shoff will also be required to pay restitution, attend a crimes impact class and submit to any required treatment after a mental health evaluation.

If Shoff can afford to pay the monthly cost, she will be allowed to serve six of the nine months of her prison sentence on house arrest.

Shoff is to report to York County Prison on April 26.


Former YSO office manager embezzled $221K and gambled it away
ELIZABETH EVANS The York Dispatch


The guilty plea of York Symphony Orchestra's former office manager -- who embezzled more than $200,000 from the orchestra -- almost didn't happen.

Phyllis (LoPresti) Shoff, 56, of the Travel Inn, 300 Commerce Drive in New Cumberland, appeared before Common Pleas Judge Gregory M. Snyder Wednesday morning.

Senior deputy prosecutor Justin Kobeski informed the judge the plea agreement called for Shoff to serve three months in county prison, followed by 10 years of probation.

Shoff embezzled the money over a seven-year period to support her gambling addiction, Kobeski told the judge, and suffers from unspecified medical conditions.

"Somebody is going to have to convince me ... that this deal is appropriate," Snyder said. "There are a lot of people who steal money for a lot of reasons. ... I understand the defendant may have medical conditions but, quite frankly, that didn't stop her from committing serious crimes."

New deal: Kobeski and public defender James Rader spoke privately, then went back to the judge with a new plea agreement that added six months of house arrest.

Snyder accepted Shoff's guilty plea to two counts of each of theft and access-device fraud, all third-degree felonies.

He sentenced her to the agreed-upon punishment: nine to 23 months in York County Prison, followed by 10 years of probation, plus a mental-health evaluation and possible counseling. She must also attend crime-impact classes.

As part of the agreement, Shoff will spend the first three months in prison and the next six months on electronically monitored house arrest. She must pay in advance for all house-arrest costs, the judge ordered.

Restitution: She also must pay a total of $220,962.63 in restitution -- $177,967.85 to Federal Insurance Co., which reimbursed the orchestra for that amount of stolen money, and $42,994.78 to the orchestra itself, for losses not covered by its insurance.

From July 2004 to April 2007, Shoff wrote herself checks from the orchestra account to gamble and pay personal bills, and used orchestra credit cards to pay bills and for hotel rooms during her casino visits.

"I was the office manager and I paid the bills. ... I wrote myself the checks to myself to cover my gambling ... so my family wouldn't know," she said.

Asked by Snyder where the money went, Shoff said, "I gambled it."

The judge granted a defense request to allow Shoff to remain free for three weeks, so her attorney could consult with prison officials about her medical conditions. She must report to prison on April 26.

Shoff declined comment as she left the courtroom.

"It is a sad case for everybody involved, except perhaps for the casinos that she frequented," said Rader, her defense attorney. "It shows that gambling can evolve into a serious addiction just like any other addiction that results in harmful and negative consequences."

Satisfied: York Symphony Orchestra treasurer Jolleen Biesecker said the symphony is satisfied with the plea agreement. She said the orchestra's primary goal was to ensure Shoff could never embezzle again.

Biesecker said the orchestra's administrative arm has been revamped to ensure no one can steal from the organization again. The revamping has also cut costs, she said.

In a written victim-impact statement, Biesecker wrote there is no way to measure the impact of Shoff's crimes:

"The Symphony's 79-year reputation of being good stewards of the public's generosity was violated. There will likely be donors that NEVER return. Ultimately, we had people trust us with their money, and it was stolen from us."

YSO 'doing well': Henry Nixon, who was the orchestra's executive director until retiring Sept. 1, said YSO has paid its credit-card companies the nearly $43,000 not covered by insurance, and did so without programming being affected.

He said the orchestra is "doing well" financially.

During the hearing, Snyder noted his own connection to the orchestra.

"My father was a member of York Symphony Orchestra for probably 40 years, as a musician," and also served on its board, the judge said.