UTICA -- A former bookkeeper at an assisted living facility in Central New York says she embezzled more than $600,000 to feed a gambling addiction.
Sharon Oczkowski, of Whitesboro, pleaded guilty to grand larceny for stealing $617,000 from Eastern Star Home & Campus in Oriskany between 2006 and 2010. She wrote hundreds of checks and used a resident's account to cash some after the woman died.
The 58-year-old blew the money at a nearby casino.
She faces up to 4 ½ to 13 ½ years in prison, but Oneida County Court Judge Michael Dwyer says if she can pay back $100,000 before she is sentenced on September 13, he will consider a sentence of 4 to 12 years.
Do you think she should receive such leniency? Or should she have to serve the full sentence regardless of the amount she pays back?
Oczowski also pleaded guilty Tuesday to filing a false tax return.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
