Monday, March 19, 2007

Deb Anderson didn't begin her 27-year banking career as a thief. She started
as a teller at Pioneer Bank, the lender in her hometown of 3,300 on the
outskirts of Sioux City. She won promotions, despite a lack of college or
any formal training in banking or accounting. By 1991 she was named
cashier - a respected and powerful job at most community banks. "I had a
tremendous amount of trust in her and her position," bank President Richard
Aadland said. But in 1996, 18 years into her career at Pioneer, Anderson
developed a dark side - gambling. She started with bingo and switched to
quarter slot machines, according to court testimony. Casinos to the north,
in Sioux City, and to the south, outside of Sloan, proved so irresistible
that she concocted a scheme that flew in the face of all her outward
appearances of normalcy. Anderson also helped herself to $32,000 from the
Community United Methodist Church, where she kept the books for many years.
Anderson, 49, pleaded guilty to one count of defrauding the bank in U.S.
District Court in Sioux City. She was sentenced Friday to three years and
five months in prison and five years of probation. Her sentencing happened
to fall during National Problem Gambling Awareness Week. She also was
ordered to repay the bank all of the money that she stole, and she faces
federal and state tax bills and penalties on $1.5 million of income that was
not reported. "I'm ashamed and remorseful and didn't set out to hurt anyone,
but I hurt everyone," she testified Friday. A gambling counselor testified
that Anderson was making a successful recovery from her gambling addiction.
In documents asking the court for leniency, Jack Faith, Anderson's lawyer,
wrote that in 1993 she developed anxiety attacks and depression, and later
began gambling and stealing from Pioneer once her addiction spun out of
control. Lisa Pierce, director of the Central Iowa Gambling Treatment
Program, said that for some people gambling can release chemicals in their
bodies that fight the effects of depression. In front of a slot machine or
card table can be "the only place where they don't feel pain," Pierce said.
Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling,
acknowledged that depression can play a role in addictive gambling but said
tying the two together can be like pairing the proverbial chicken and egg.
"Was it their gambling, or their depression" that caused their problems, he
asked.