Missouri Gaming Commission blocks Lawson from casinos
Ray Scherer
December 3, 2009
St. Joseph News-Press
http://www.stjoenews.net/news/2009/dec/03/missouri-gaming-commission-blocks-lawson-casinos/?local
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Missouri Gaming Commission Wednesday banned former Buchanan County Public Administrator Bonnie Sue Lawson from ever entering casinos again.

The five-member commission’s vote was unanimous, said executive director Gene McNary. The vote placed Ms. Lawson’s name on the state’s exclusion list, which she now joins along with 16 other individuals. She is currently serving a 37-month sentence in a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility in Waseca, Minn., after being convicted of embezzling more than $174,000 in Social Security funds.

“The casinos will be notified that she’s not allowed” in their establishments, Mr. McNary said.

Moreover, other gaming commissions throughout the United States will learn of Ms. Lawson’s status.

“We do notify other states” by unwritten reciprocal agreement of such bans, Mr. McNary added. The commission does have an agreement to share such information with Illinois.

Gaming exclusions were not commonly done in the state until recent years. “It was fairly dormant,” Mr. McNary said.

There are no other Buchanan County residents on the exclusion list.

The exclusion was ordered because of Ms. Lawson’s conviction in September 2008 and the court’s decision to ban her from gambling as a condition of a three-year probation that will follow the sentence. She pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to one count of theft of government funds. The court ordered her to pay more than $119,000 in restitution to victims.

The commission has the authority to place a person on the exclusion list for felony convictions in any jurisdiction for crimes that involve gaming.

Ms. Lawson, who took office in 1996, resigned as the county’s public administrator in August 2006 amid theft allegations.

Elderly St. Joseph residents complained they never received Social Security payments. After a two-year federal investigation, she pleaded guilty. Approximately 140 client thefts were involved in the case.

The public administrator’s job involves managing some clients’ assets and ensuring that their bills are paid. The St. Joseph Police Department later said Ms. Lawson took money from at least three accounts without authorization or court orders.

The women’s prison in Minnesota had been converted from a male correctional facility, and once housed former Enron chief executive Jeffrey Skilling, who was convicted in a corporate fraud case.