B U F F A L O N E W S buffalonews.com
Peggy Gaiser, a former manager for a Town of Tonawanda discount card store, pleaded guilty Monday to stealing more than $175,000 to pay off her casino gambling debts.
State Supreme Court Justice M. William Boller allowed Gaiser, 53, of Ransom Road, Grand Island, to remain free pending her Dec. 23 sentencing.
But the judge warned her that she has to pay at least $50,000 of her admitted thefts from Card $mart before her sentencing or it is “highly likely you will spend some time in prison.”
Boller, who has a reputation for stiffly punishing embezzlers to send a message to the community and to like-minded crooks, told Gaiser that if she comes up with the initial $50,000 before sentencing, he will put her on probation and order her to work to fully repay her former employer.
Warning Gaiser she could be facing a mandatory prison term of five to 15 years, the judge told her his “primary concern” in such cases “is to make the victim, even corporate victims, whole again.”
John C. Doscher, chief of the Erie County district attorney’s Special Investigation Unit, told the judge that Gaiser, an employee of the discount card store for years, began dipping into its cash accounts to pay off her casino gambling debts after she was promoted to manager two years ago.
From July 1, 2007, through Aug. 31, 2008, Gaiser routinely voided sales records and pocketed cash paid to the business.
After an areawide manager for the company began noting unexplainable shortfalls in the Tonawanda store’s sales, he contacted Town of Tonawanda police, who turned the case over to prosecutors and Gaiser was indicted.
Doscher told the judge Gaiser’s pretrial guilty plea was to the highest charge she faced.
When initially confronted by police, Gaiser claimed she was using company money to pay for medical expenses incurred by her disabled husband, but she eventually admitted losing the money at local casinos, Doscher said.
As she was leaving court Gaiser declined to comment.