Another Arresting Tale

A Pennsylvania woman is learning an unfortunate lesson this week, as she has been charged with stealing at a slot casino. Not so unfortunate at the surface, but this story has a twist. This woman is a law abiding citizen, somebody’s grandmother, and church-going lady. How, then, could it be, that she has been charged with such a crime?

Poor Janelle Simms, a Lancaster School Board member, was minding her own business at the Penn National Race Course slots at the Hollywood Casino. She was there for a relaxing Monday afternoon, but it turned out to be the beginning of a long ordeal. Having just visited the ATM to withdraw a $100 bill, she stopped to fix her jacket and saw a piece of paper fall out of the corner of her eye. Naturally, she picked it up, thinking that it was the bill that she had just withdrawn. Anybody would have done that, especially when the amount in question was a little more than a mere $1, or even $20.

Much to her surprise, the 67-year-old was then detained by a detective, 20 minutes later while she was sitting at a slot machine. The detective said the money in fact was not hers and that it was theft to take something that did not belong to her. Although it was certainly a common honest mistake, Pennsylvania State Police have charged Mrs. Simms with theft of lost property.

However, Simms said that nobody asked her to turn over the “stolen money”, nobody told her that she would be charged with theft, and the surveillance footage clearly shows a piece of paper falling out of her pocket.

So truly, it is Mrs. Simms who is the victim in this situation, as she would never have broken the law on purpose, and she had no way of knowing that the situation could turn into anything of this caliber. With no warning, no explanation of a possible legal implication, it is completely understandable that Mrs. Simms would have acted the way she did.

It’s not like she called 911 to report that a slot machine stole her money. She would never do that.

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