CASINO SCAM
A Massachusetts woman is facing charges for carrying out a six-month long slot machine scheme at Mohegan Sun to pay off her sick cat’s bills. 48-year-old Lisa Onderdonk was charged Monday on a warrant with first-degree larceny. The warrant says Onderdonk used nine Mohegan Sun Player’s Club cards to redeem $70,430 in slot play bonuses over the course of six months. She allegedly started the scheme to pay off her $7,000 veterinarian bill. The cards must be used on specific days. Onderdonk was discovered after a months-long investigation and according to police, admitted to the scam and even told them how she did it.
SCOUTS ABUSE LAWSUIT
A Connecticut judge has dismissed a lawsuit against the Boy Scouts of America by 17 men and two women who say a scoutmaster sexually abused them when they were children in the 1960s and 1970s. Judge Charles Lee ruled the lawsuit was barred by a statute of limitations that prohibits child sexual abuse lawsuits from being filed more than 30 years after a plaintiff turned 18. The lawsuit claimed scouting leaders knew or should have known that Ridgefield Scoutmaster Donald Dennis was a danger to children and didn’t protect them. Dennis died in 2013. The plaintiffs said they couldn’t file the lawsuit within the statute of limitations because scouting officials concealed their knowledge of Dennis’ alleged actions, but the judge ruled they didn’t prove that.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE BILL
The Senate unanimously approved a bill late Tuesday to reduce instances when victims of domestic violence are arrested alongside their attackers. The domestic violence measure would implement a broad strategy to reverse a longstanding philosophy of “dual arrests” effectively imposed on police departments by existing law, said Sen. Paul Doyle of Wethersfield, Senate Democratic chair of the Judiciary Committee. The chamber also unanimously adopted a second measure that mandates a broad array of changes to the treatment of incarcerated women, particularly those who are pregnant. Both bills now head to the House.
DAYCARE OPERATOR BUSTED
The operator of a Connecticut daycare and another person have been charged with leaving three preschool girls alone inside a vehicle for about a half hour while they shopped. Manchester police responded to a BJ’s Wholesale Club at 11 a.m. Tuesday after a store employee heard crying. Beth Rich and Mark Babcock, both of Coventry, told officers they were inside for five minutes and didn’t realize they couldn’t leave the children unattended for such a short period. They were charged with leaving children under 12 unsupervised and released on $2,500 bond pending a May 15 court date.
