By Edward Lewis
The Times Leader
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — A Luzerne County jury has returned a mixed verdict for a mother and daughter accused stealing more than $700,000 in bingo proceeds from the now defunct Swoyersville Hose Co. No. 1.
Assistant district attorneys Thomas Hogans and Michelle Hardik alleged Catherine Drago, 83, and her daughter, Carol Gamble, 52, pilfered money collected through bingo games the department held over a three-year period from 2004 to 2007. They were charged by state police at Wyoming in December 2008.
The jury found Drago and Gamble not guilty on three counts of theft, one count criminal conspiracy and guilty on one count of a charitable act violation.
The long-delayed trial began Monday before Judge Lisa Gelb.
During closing statements to the jury, Drago’s attorney, Joseph Sklarosky Sr., said his client and Gamble “did not take one copper penny,” while Gamble’s attorney, William Ruzzo, said the two women “didn’t take a nickle” from bingo proceeds.
Sklarosky and Ruzzo said the hose company, which was shuttered in 2008, hosted 84 bingo games and 67 of those games lost money. Sklarosky further said bingo ticket sellers were instructed to give away 50 percent of their bingo tickets as a promotion to increase attendance.
Hogans said during his closing statement that each bingo game brought in $800 to $1,200 before Gamble became president of the hose company and chairwoman of the bingo committee, and Drago became hose company treasurer in 2004.
When Gamble and Drago took control over the hose company, bingo game profits dropped to more than $300, Hogans said.
Sklarosky and Ruzzo blamed the lack of attendance at bingo games to the opening of the Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs casino in late 2006.
The mother and daughter each was charged with three counts of theft, two counts of violating the state’s charitable law and a single count of criminal conspiracy.
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