Gambling Addicted Nurse Gets Prison for Stealing

A nurse with a gambling addiction that led to her stealing thousands of dollars from her employer is headed to jail after she was found guilty in circuit court.

54 year old Lynn M. Peridore was given a sentence of between two and fifteen years in prison for stealing about $350,000 from her former employer, which was used to gamble at nearby casinos. She had pleaded no contest to false pretenses of between $20,000 and $50,000 in a plea deal, which saw a higher charge of false pretenses of more than $100,000 dismissed. That heavier charge could have given her up to 20 years in prison. Judge Joseph Sheeran didn't give Peridore any credit for time served in county jail, and she'll have to repay $461,691.42 in restitution.

Peridore had worked as a registered nurse, and she had served for years as a nurse for a woman that had been injured in an automobile crash. She was fired by the family in 2012, but she failed to report the firing to her employer, Mid-Valley Interim Healthcare. From 2012 to 2017, she continued to bill the employer, who paid her salary to the tune of $350,000. The defendant took some of the money to the casino in order to feed her gambling addiction.

"I needed the money," Peridore testified. "I had an issue with going to the casino and spent way more money than I should have."

A company accountant discovered the fraud, and he reported it to superiors, which spawned the investigation.