New Jersey Woman Stole $1.8 Million to Gamble as Sands Resort Casino
A New Jersey woman is charged with stealing nearly $2 million from her employer in Allentown to fund her gaming habits at the Sands Casino. Over a 6 year period, Nelann Quigley of Watchung, New Jersey stole $1.8 million.
Records obtained from the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem indicate Nelann Quigley’s alleged crimes were committed to pay off gambling debts incurred at the Sands Casino. Over a 16-month period, she wagered nearly $800 thousand at the Sands Casino in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. It was in this time she stole over $700 thousand from her employer, a surge of theft which attracted the attention of her boss.
The investigation into Quigley’s alleged crimes began in January or early February 2014, when James Weppler, the owner of the victimized company, told authorities that someone had stolen $700 thousand from Aetna Felt Corp’s bank account. It originally was thought the crimes occurred between January 2012 and January 2014. When investigators began to look more closely at the bank account, they realized that $1.8 million had been stolen in all, in crimes dating back to 2008.
In all cases, unauthorized checks had been signed with the name Nelann Quigley. Such withdrawal slips require the signature of two Aetna Felt Corp. employees to authorize the withdrawal, but “Nelann Quigley” was the only authorizing signature. The checks were cashed using a bank account Aetna Felt Corp. had with a local financial institution in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Details of the Alleged Crime
In all, 267 checks were cashed in Nelann Quigley’s name at First Niagara Bank in Allentown, totalling some $1,851,423 stolen. The illegal checks endorsed by Quigley were written to a number of different entities, including credit card companies, car finance companies, and insurance firms.
The dates of the suspicious activity ran from January 9, 2008 until January 24, 2014. The checks were filled out to Allstate Insurance, Bank of America, a local Jared Galleria jewelry store, Discover Card services, and Toyota Financial. Some of the checks were made out to herself.
After the Aetna Felt Corp. learned who was responsible for the embezzlement, Nelann Quigley was fired from her job with the company. According to Allentown’s district attorney’s spokeswoman, Debbie Garlicki, Quigley turned herself in on Friday, April 4, and was arraigned on a felony charge of theft in the court of District Judge Ron Manescu. Judge Manescu set an unsecured bail of $25,000.
New Jersey Resident
The alleged perpetrator, who is 65 years old, lives in Watchung, New Jersey. Watchung, a town of 5,613, is in Somerset County, New Jersey. Watchung is located along Interstate 78 between Allentown and New York City, just over an hour by car to Allenton.
Gambling Addiction at Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem
The investigation also showed that Nelann Quigley had a Sands Casino players card from October 2012 until February 2014. Records of that account show that Quigley lost around $770 thousand playing at the Sands Casino Resorts in Bethlehem during that time.
The Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem is found in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania which is about 10 miles away from Allantown. The casino is owned by the Las Vegas Sands Corp., the largest gaming enterprise in the world. Its CEO is Sheldon Adelson, who wants to end legal online gambling in the United States, because he says it encourages the kind of problem gambling which Nelann Quigley exhibited.
Online Gambling and the 2016 Presidential Campaign
Last week, Sheldon Adelson met with four potential 2016 Republican presidential candidates in Las Vegas. He donated $90 million to Republican campaigns in 2012, hoping to see Barack Obama defeated in his reelection bid. He’s also vowed to spend whatever money is needed to see regulated Internet gambling ended in the USA. Adelson’s stated reason for doing so is the issue of gambling addiction, which he says is encouraged by the nature of online and mobile gaming.
Sheldon Adelson has stated that gambling addiction is less of a problem in land-based casinos, because it is less convenient for the gamblers. He argues that brick-and-mortar casinos cannot be accessed as often as a personal computer in the privacy of one’s home, so traditional gaming ventures simply cannot victimize their customers they way an online website could. According to the Las Vegas Sands CEO, his casinos therefore are more responsible in dealing with their customers. At present, no spokesman for the Las Vegas Sands Corp has made a statement on the Nelann Quigley case.
