Gambling Related Theft

Gambling Related Theft

Mequons ousted fire chief is suspected of suffering from gambling addiction that drove him to steal money. If this rumor is true, he could be the highest government officials accused of gambling related crimes in Wisconsin.

About eight people from Milwaukee area have been convicted of gambling related theft in the last few years. The amount of money stolen to compensate for their gambling losses was between 5,000 dollars and even more than 500,000 dollars. The convicted people were sentenced to two years of probation, in the easiest case or 10 years prison in the worse case.

Barbara Berger, the former deputy treasurer in Brown County, was convicted in 1999 for stealing 197,000 dollars and got 12 year in prison. Malini Sathasivam, a former state Department of Commerce employee, was convicted of stealing around 3 million dollars from the state, the bank and even from her family. In December, Sathasivam was sentenced for 16 years in prison.

Jim Wucherer was forced to leave his position as Mequons fire chief even though he has not been accused of committing a crime. His case is still being investigated by the Washington County Sheriffs Department. According to Wucherer attorney, he is has being treated with his gambling addiction and he intends to pay back the City of Mequon and a Mequon firefighters charity fund 30,000 dollars from the law firm trust fund.