Woman pleads guilty to stealing $45k from casino

A Havre woman pleaded guilty Monday in District Court to embezzling more than $45,000 from a local casino while she was as an employee.

Kyra Lynne Gerber, born in 1988, will be sentenced Nov. 27 at 9 a.m. for two felony counts of theft by embezzlement by a common scheme.

One of the operators of Crystal City Casino and Hi-Line Gold Casino, Lacey Farmer, reported Sept. 19, 2016, to the Havre Police Department that an employee who worked at both casinos was stealing money.

Farmer said Gerber had been working for the casinos for about seven or eight years and had been bookkeeper for the past two or three years. Farmer told officers she found that June and July’s deposits were late, and as of Sept. 18, the deposit for August had not been completed.

Documents say Farmer told police Gerber brought the deposit bags into Crystal City Casino and turned her key and employer-branded shirt in that day.

“Gerber told Farmer someone else needed to take over the bookkeeping tasks; that she, Gerber, was overwhelmed; and that Gerber knew she was in trouble,” documents say.

Farmer and another business operator went through the bags and discovered that a lot of money was missing.  

After an officer obtained copies of deposit slips, the officer concluded Crystal City Casino was missing $38,890 from the deposit bags, the ATM and the safe, and Hi-Line Gold Casino was missing a total of $6,640 from deposit bags and the ATM. The total amount missing was $45,530 beginning Aug. 14.

Gerber wrote Farmer and McCracken a letter, “begging them not to notify the police of the thefts,” court documents say.

“Gerber’s letter stated she took the money because she had outstanding medical bills and was trying to keep a roof over her children’s heads,” the documents say.