Jailed former public administrator may face casino ban

Casino to consider banning former local official
November 30, 2009
St. Joseph News-Press
http://www.stjoenews.net/news/2009/nov/30/casino-consider-banning-former-local-official/?breaking
A former county official whose gambling habits got her into trouble is now subject to being banned by the casinos themselves.

Former Buchanan County Public Administrator Bonnie Sue Lawson is up for consideration of placement on an exclusion list by the Missouri Gaming Commission. The commission will meet Dec. 2 to determine her fate on the list.

Ms. Lawson was sentenced in April to 37 months in federal prison for embezzling $174,405 in Social Security funds. She’ll also have to serve three years of parole, including a ban from gambling, and pay restitution of $119,063.

“The courts made it a special condition of supervised release,” said Gene McNary, of the commission. “That is the nexus for us.”

Mo. gambling regulators to consider banning former public administrator from casinos
Associated Press
December 1, 2009
Fox4KC.com
http://www.fox4kc.com/news/sns-ap-mo–administrator-casinoban,0,6768985.story
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — Missouri gambling regulators are set to decide this week whether to ban a former Buchanan County public administrator from the state’s casinos.

Bonnie Sue Lawson was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison for embezzling nearly $175,000 in Social Security funds. She pleaded guilty last year to stealing money from the accounts of 120 clients from 2003 to 2006.

Terms of her sentence call for her to serve three years on parole — including being banned from gambling — after serving the prison time. Lawson must also pay restitution of more than $119,000.

Missouri Gaming Commission Executive Director Gene McNary says the casino ban is a special condition of Lawson’s supervised release.