PA Drilling Exec Faces 7 Years Behind Bars for Embezzling $9 Mil to Gamble

A one-time chief operating officer for a Western Pennsylvania drilling company is facing more than seven years behind bars when he is sentenced for embezzlement Friday. 

Fifty-four-year-old Larry Dean Winckler pleaded guilty to conspiracy, mail fraud and income tax fraud in February and was to be sentenced in July but the sentencing was then delayed for more than six months.

NBC 10 reports that Winckler wrote himself checks from the bank accounts of Falcon Drilling LLC in Indiana County while another company official sent bogus letters to auditors claiming to not know anything about the stolen money.  The funds were used to support Winckler’s gambling habit.

- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com