WESTWOOD, Ohio — A Kroger employee was arrested Thursday on charges she stole more than $100,000 in lottery tickets.
Deborah Strong, 52, of Westwood, Ohio, was booked into the Hamilton County jail on a felony theft charge and released, jail officials said.
Strong, who also goes by the name Deborah Ridenour, stole the tickets, and then cashed them, court documents allege. When confronted, she admitted to the crime, police say. She was taken into custody at the Kroger store in Westwood at 2310 Ferguson Rd.
Kroger reported a loss of more than $100,000, court documents state.
This is not the first time she has been accused of stealing thousands from an employer, court records show.
In 2001, she was convicted of stealing $14,150 from another employer. She was sentenced to probation, which was terminated in June 2005, court records state.
She stole the money from the cash register at Cash City, according to court records.
A Hamilton County judge ordered her to repay the money to the company or its insurance company, perform 500 hours of community service and attend Gamblers Anonymous weekly. She was ordered not to frequent any river boat casinos in Indiana.
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So I assume she just printed out the tickets or scanned instant tickets but never paid for them? Either way if she's done this before she does have a problem.
Sweet picture! I like her jowls!
She didn't get any smarter or honest with age or probation. As a convicted thief she was given a second chance so she stole even more.
Be nice!!..She was going to do the right thing and get a face lift with the money now she can't!!..Gotta feel sorry for her with no face lift..
I wonder if she thinks doing this a third time will be a charm.?
She's got the Feeeva! I'd say she needs help, but I think she's just a crook!
He He He that was very funny tiggs!
she'll do it again.
She is a compulsive gambler. I don't understand how Krogers let this go on so long..surely they had to do checks at some point in time to make them realize something was wrong. They should have realized it way before $100,000.00. How did they come up with such a "neat" number loss? If they were scratchers, she must have carried a big bag out every night. They should fire the ones who were in charge of that inventory. Someone wasn't doing their job or maybe she is being blamed for some of their shenanigans, too. It just doesn't sound right. It is too pat.
Rjoh, I think she should go to jail.
Ok so the article says she stole the tickets and then cashed them. LOL I wanna know how much she won!
The article doesn't say if they were scratchers or online tickets but hello she's not too bright to think she could get away with it. Oh wait that's it .......she wasn't thinking!
That was cold and heartless!
Funny
, but cold and heartless!
Assuming they were scratchers I'm kind of surprised she didn't get any big wins out of $100,000 worth.
This either doesn't speak well for Ohio scratchers or she bought up all the dadgum losers and everybody else's chances are better now.
Side effect of stealing that many tickets and still not having a big hit?
Did everyone forget her beedy little eyes, windows to the soul , she looks angry for having gotten caught, but not angry at herself.
...and released?? Huh??....
Yes, the eyes and the whole face show many years of thinking someone owed her something. Angry, miserable, troubled and unhappy.
"A Hamilton County judge ordered her to repay the money to the company or its insurance company, perform 500 hours of community service and attend Gamblers Anonymous weekly. She was ordered not to frequent any river boat casinos in Indiana."
I hope she gets the help she needs but I think she needs to spend some time in jail - knowing she has to pay back $100,000 isn't gonna stop her from gambling
A perfect example of what happens when companies do not check references, shame on them! This person is a professional thief! A ignorant one at that!!
I think she should go to jail too.
The $100,000 probably included the price of the tickets she stole plus the prize money she collected from them since the store was responsible for both.
I'm actually surprised that she didn't get any jail time. She stole a lot of money. It may not have been taken all at once, but it still came out to a lot. There have been people who have stolen less and spent some time in jail. I wonder, did she not get jail time because she is a woman? I swear, I have read some articles on here of men stealing tickets/money and they definitely spent some time in jail.
Stealing all those tickets and never hitting a jackpot? ouch! that must hurt.
Reminds me of a story here in the lottery post about the female book keeper
from NY who stole more than $2.3M from her employer to buy scratch tickets.
I believe her names are Annie J. Donnelly. What is wrong with these people?!
to bad we have to take police word for it, remember if this was a free planet there would be no crime.
free your planet people, end money now.
LOL stole cash at "Cash City"...best place to shoplift I guess! Food for thought, is the code of the ticket on the serial number under the scratch material, or the barcode on the back? what would have happened if she were real clever and scanned only the barcodes. or even made her own? imagine a really crooked Agent could unroll the tickets, check them all, and then roll them back up? I think the barcode has to always be under the scratch material like in PA.
Also I don't get, Kroger "lost" $100,000? is that what she got from cashing in, or is that the face value of the tickets? the tickets are only worth the paper they are printed on until they can be legitimately claimed.
I think you're right. End money. Send it to me and I'll dispose of it for you.
I'm going out to hug a tree now.