Atty General: Gambling Addict Stole from Charity

PHOENIX - He’s accused of stealing more than a million dollars meant to help families of Arizona soldiers serving overseas. Now, we are learning how he was able to do it.

According to the Attorney General’s Office, retired Colonel James Burnes was taking and gambling money for years. His co-workers were suspicious, but they figured he's their boss, so they left it alone.

Eventually, the suspicious withdrawals become too much to ignore.

Burnes was authorized to handle the charity’s money back in 2001. A few years ago, the suspicious withdrawals began, totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars.

According to documents obtained from the Department Of Emergency and Military Affairs, Burnes would transfer money between various accounts and request the checks be handed over to him. He would then deposit the money.

Staffers with the charities noticed that cash withdrawals from the account were large, in multiples of $1000 and occurred frequently.

When one staffer started see red flags, she wrote in a statement that: "I figured he was my boss and if he told me we could use the funds then it must be ok."

Nobody at the charity knew of the suspect's alleged gambling problem, but they had heard he liked to ‘hang out at the casinos.’

“Every week he was taking $3 or $4,000 out of the fund and gambling and losing,” said Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne.

According to a statement from a member of the charity's board, they were under the impression that the charity was sitting on $480,000. Investigators had to tell them, thanks to Burnes, it was more like $32,000.

Burnes had no comment when we tried to talk to him. In a statement, one of the charities leaders wrote: "It is hard to believe what Mr. Burnes did over such a long period of time and he hid his illegal activity from so many people."

Burnes was charged with fraud forgery and theft. His trail is set for this spring.

Despite being virtually cleaned out, the charities are back up and running. They had to shut down for a while but they are back.

Follow this story: Employee Accused of Defrauding National Guard