Minnesota hospital employee steals $39,000 for gambling

In an eye-popping incident in the USA, a former administrator of the Luther Haven nursing home in Montevideo in western Minnesota has used the hospital’s credit card to spend $38,812 for gambling.

Tamara N. B., 46, a resident of Appleton, is facing charges of illegally using the employer’s credit card and taking physical cash from the office safe, allegedly for gambling. The nursing home filed a criminal complaint on September 19 in Chippewa County District Court.

As per the complaint, the accountant initially spoke to Borstad about 18 credit card transactions on the Luther Haven account made for cash at Prairie’s Edge Casino and Jackpot Junction. Borstad wrote a check to cover the $9,568.

The accountant subsequently found charges totalling $7,256.27 allegedly made by Borstad at Mystic Lake Casino, Jackpot Junction, and Prairie’s Edge. Borstad wrote a check for $7,256.27 to cover the charges, but a stop order was placed on the check.

The accountant also discovered that $25,872 in cash was missing from a safe in Borstad’s office. The nursing home is required by law to keep $30,000 in cash on hand.

After her termination, Borstad met with a Montevideo Police Department investigator and another officer. She told them that she has a very serious gambling addiction, according to the allegations in the complaint.

She admitted of taking $30,000 of the cash in the safe, but added that she put $4000 back. Borstad told the investigators that “in her addict’s mind, she was not taking the money, she was borrowing it,” stated the complaint.

The complaint alleges that all of the funds were used for gambling.

Source: Grand Forks Herald