Updated: 11/12/2009 6:15 PM KSTP.com | Print |  Email
By: Becky Nahm & Susanna Song

Buffalo Woman Charged with Stealing from Senior Center

According to prosecutors, a gambling addiction pushed a 71-year-old woman to swindle more than $93,000 from the senior citizens home she was hired to manage.

Patricia Goodwin, of Buffalo, is accused of stealing from the Summerhill Cooperative, an independent living center for seniors in Eden Prairie.

She worked as the office manager at the facility between 2006 and 2008.

Police said she had access to the facility's checking account and all of the tenants' rent checks. She allegedly printed checks payable to herself and forged signatures at least 142 times.

She's accused of using the money to place bets at Mystic Lake Casino.

The criminal complaint filed in the case shows Goodwin bet more than $1.7 million between 2001 and 2008.

Police investigators asked Goodwin if she knew what she was doing was wrong.

They said she answered "absolutely" but said the gambling addiction was too strong.

Summerhill residents told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS when Goodwin left her job she told them it was because she had a medical condition and had to get treated at the Mayo Clinic.

They threw her a going away party and later found out, she had lied about being sick.