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Cop Steals to Support Gambling Habit

"Robert McClure, who eventually stole $3,500 from the department evidence room to support his habit, asserts that colleagues should have seen trouble coming because they were with him on at least three organized all-expenses-paid casino trips. On Monday, he used that argument, attempting to have his prison sentence -- 111/2 to 23 months in county jail -- reduced for one count of felony theft by unlawful taking.

"`The first time I ever gambled, we went on a (police) training trip,' McClure testified during his post-sentence hearing, telling how he lost $500 on his trip to the slot machines.

"…Soon, he was going on a few trips, some of which were sponsored by the local Fraternal Order of Police, and he lost more and more money over time. With the losses came growing panic attacks that, at their worst, kept him out of work for nearly two months. Prior financial problems and alcohol didn't help, he said.

"…Although colleagues said they were aware he couldn't pay back a prior loan and had to declare bankruptcy, they didn't think it was because of a few trips to casinos. McClure estimates that he lost between $500 to $1,000 on the trips, and that he used the stolen money for another gambling junket.

"Detective John Conti testified that McClure never told him that gambling was a reason for declaring bankruptcy, and that he tried to offer financial advice.

"…"His attitude in general toward (money) was that he felt it was the American way to get what he could get from the deepest pockets," Conti said.

"McClure joined the department in January 1995 and was named a detective in September 1998. It was then he became the department's evidence custodian and was given one of two restricted-use keys for the evidence room.

"In November 2000, McClure ordered duplicates of those keys made, turning in the originals before he left the department on Jan. 5 to move to Virginia. Police said that two weeks later, McClure talked with two former colleagues in the department's parking lot, and after they left, he used his duplicate keys to enter the building and take the cash…"

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