Former store clerk pleads guilty to stealing from employer

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Photo: Jeanine Sue McFarland

A former employee of a Henderson convenience store charged with stealing almost $15,500 from the business by manipulating lottery tickets and games pled guilty to the charges against her in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.

Forty-eight-year-old Jeanine Sue McFarland of Viola was charged with lottery fraud and theft of property.

She was sentenced to 10 years probation and ordered to pay $15,424 in victim restitution.

According to the probable cause affidavit, an audit was done on lottery-involved activity at the store, and it was discovered that – from Dec. 1, 2020 until Feb. 28, 2021 – McFarland was reported to have caused the store to lose thousands of dollars.

The store’s owner fired McFarland March 1.

Surveillance video was reviewed, and it reportedly shows McFarland carrying out some of the illegal lottery games transactions.

She was sentenced under the provisions of Act 346, meaning if she stays out of trouble during her 120-month probation, she can apply to the court to have her record sealed.

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