EMPORIUM — An Emporium woman has been charged with taking more than $80,000 from the lottery machine at the Fuel-On station where she was the store manager.
Jamie Lynn Schatz, 40, of 4277 Rich Valley Road, is charged with theft by failure to make required disposition of funds and knowledge that property is proceeds of an illegal act, first-degree felonies; and seven counts each of theft by unlawful taking and of receiving stolen property, all third-degree felonies.
According to the criminal complaint, in January, Alex Sayed, the owner of the Fuel-On, contacted the chief of the Emporium Borough Police about a possible theft of cash from his store. He said he was still looking into the matter and would be back in touch.
On Feb. 20, Sayed contacted police and said that starting in July 2022, many lottery machine reports and deposits were missing. He said his accounting department had noticed the discrepancies in January, and he reached out to Schatz, the store manager. He questioned her regarding the about $70,000 that was unaccounted for so far. He said at first she denied taking the money, but after he had spoken to her a few more times, she admitted to taking the cash, apologized and offered to pay it back, the criminal complaint stated.
Sayed forwarded to police an email dated Feb. 23 in which Schatz itemized places she had spent just over $70,000 she had taken from the Fuel-On lottery machines. These included the following: $17,000 to pay off her vehicle, $1,950 for rent and a security deposit; $15,000 to pay off an electric bill so she could get service in her new apartment; $4,500 for new furniture; $5,000 for Christmas gifts for her children and family; roughly $10,000 at the Seneca Allegany Casino in Salamanca, N.Y.; $5,000 to pay off debt; and roughly $10,000 to buy miscellaneous items like school clothes and toys, the complaint stated.
She sent Sayed a subsequent email detailing how much she could pay down and how much she could pay a month if he didn’t turn her over to the police. “Sayed said Schatz told him he would never see his money again if she was arrested and that the only way he would be paid back would be to keep her employed,” the complaint stated.
Sayed provided the lottery machine generated reports to the police, along with the bank deposits regarding the machines. A study of all the reports and deposits showed that $80,237 was missing during the time frame of July to January, the complaint stated.
Police spoke to Sayed again at the beginning of March, who said he was concerned about firing Schatz “and believed she may flee from the charges,” the complaint stated. He told police that she had been in touch with him several more times pleading with him not to file charges, and to allow her to pay the money back.
“Sayed decided the best course of action would be to have Schatz arrested,” the complaint stated. “Sayed was concerned that she would not honor any commitment to repay him the money and would steal from someone else if she left his employment at Fuel-On.”
Schatz was arraigned Monday before District Judge Barry Brown in Emporium and was committed to jail in lieu of $80,237 bail — the same amount she allegedly stole. As of Wednesday, she had posted bail.
She is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing at 10 a.m. on March 30.
