A La Plata, MD — Waldorf man who stole pull tabs from the Waldorf Elks Lodge and turned them in for cash prizes was in Charles County Circuit Court before Judge Amy J. Bragunier, Wednesday, Oct. 1.
Ernest Eugene Bradshaw, 60 of Waldorf, could face 10 years in prison and a $2,000 fine, Bragunier told the defendant.
Bradshaw was facing five counts of Burglary-Second Degree and one charge of Theft Scheme-Over $1,000 and Under $10,000.
On Wednesday he pled guilty to the Theft Scheme charge, for which the Charles County State’s Attorney’s Office is seeking 18 months in jail with work release and five years of supervised probation.
Bradshaw, represented by attorney John Woods, promised to pay $2,000 of an owed $15,000 in restitution by Dec. 1 and $500 monthly until the money is paid in full, Woods told the court.
“If you don’t pay, you’re looking at 10 years,” Bragunier stated.
According to Charles County Assistant State’s Attorney John Stackhouse, employees at the Waldorf Elks Lodge became suspicious because of the number of dollars being lost in the game.
“Pull tabs are a gaming system where you buy a tab for a dollar each, then tabs are called and on certain tabs the person can win money,” Stackhouse explained. “You can win one dollar to $2,000. Usually there is a low percentage of winnings and they realized the number being paid out was way out of whack. It was impossible the defendant could win that many times.”
Stackhouse indicated that the pull tabs were located in a locked area and the employees went back and looked at the surveillance camera and witnessed the defendant breaking into the locked office and stealing pull tabs, which he later cashed in for money.
He said the thefts were in “excess of $10,000.”
Sentencing has been set for Dec. 1.
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com