A Tucson woman who stole nearly $183,000 from a local social-service agency told her sentencing judge Friday she has sought help for a gambling addiction and hopes to educate high school students about the dangers of gambling.
Mary Ann Diaz, 53, was indicted last April on one count each of fraud and theft. She pleaded guilty to theft last month.
Assistant Arizona Attorney General Jesse Delaney asked Judge Teresa Godoy to sentence Diaz to probation and jail and Assistant Pima County Public Defender Leo Masursky asked for a strictly probationary term.
Godoy sentenced Diaz to five years probation, ordered her to repay what she stole from La Frontera and to pay the Attorney General’s Office $2,000 in investigation costs.
Diaz was responsible for collecting fees from people seeking methadone at La Frontera and then depositing those fees, Delaney said.
However, between July 1, 2007, and March 23, 2010, Diaz would routinely take one or two days' worth of fees and use them to gamble, Delaney said.
A tearful Diaz told Godoy she’s not the woman she was last year. She’s been seeing a therapist and is involved in a gambling recovery group.
