You bet your life

Mende, the board president for Gavin School in Ingleside, apparently had a hot habit… at the Potawatomi, we’re told And so when cops arrested her this week and accused her of stealing $11,229 from the Lake County Fair Association where she also works, we’d guess her story wasn't that much fun.

Swami doubts she was a winner there.

Mende managed the payroll for the fair mucky-mucks and had a knack for figures, though she did not seem to make that acuity work very well at the casino. And, oh by the way, she’s the president of the school board down in Ingleside where she’s also accused of fixing two bids.

The judge told her to have “nothing to do with spending” by the district. See horse leave barn earlier.

Brother, can you envision how fast CPAs are going over the books there? Parents are planning a fundraiser for students there this weekend. Maybe it's just a coincidence.

The school system even put out a press release Thursday afternoon acknowledging that something was afoot with Mende, but they weren’t sure what because she was otherwise engaged and probably didn’t return phone calls. They didn’t have time to call the prosecutor’s office.

Here’s the scam, the prosecutors say. While handling the Fair Association payroll, Mende allegedly inflated her own paycheck, padding overtime hours, not deducting for her insurance and, instead of deducting for a garnishment, adding that amount in. Her paycheck was to be garnished for a medical bill from Cook County, at approximately $180 per pay period. Well, there’s another sucker standing in line to get paid.

First, we don’t know yet which game was her favorite at the casino.

We only hope it wasn’t bingo, or some other housefrau game. We hope she didn’t lose it a hundred bucks a night over a year. That’s so lame. Better to have one big night and blow the entire wad.

Now THERE’S a story.