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Attorney General Martha Coakley on Wednesday indicted a former official at Plainridge Racecourse in Plainville for stealing $61,000 from the harness racing track’s money room. The alleged theft occurred at a time when Plainridge was under fire for allowing the track’s former manager to take $1.4 million out of the money room.
Joseph Sears of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, the assistant manager in the money room, allegedly stole the cash between April 2013 and January 2014 and disguised the thefts by forging records to make it appear there was less cash on hand. Coakley’s office said it began its investigation of Sears in April after the alleged thefts were uncovered by investigators working for the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.
Sears’s alleged thefts came at a time when the track’s money room was under intense scrutiny. The Gaming Commission discovered the track’s former manager, Gary Piontkowski, had taken $1.4 million out of the money room, leading to his dismissal in April 2013. The circumstances of his removal – he was not required to repay the funds he had taken and also walked away with a $180,000 annual salary for the next two years – led the Gaming Commission to rule in August 2013 that the track’s owners were unsuitable to apply for the state’s lone slots parlor license.
No charges have been brought against Piontkowski.
Penn National subsequently secured an option to buy the Plainridge track, contingent on the company winning the state’s slots license. The license was awarded to Penn National in February and construction has begun on a slots parlor at the track.