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How to Ruin Your Life In a Single Day

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Wed Dec 14, 2005 at 08:13:51 PM EST
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In order to pay off a $5,000 poker debt, Greg Hogan, a sophomore at Lehigh University who is president of his class, plays cello in the university orchestra, and is the son of a Baptist pastor, robbed a bank. Authorities say he confessed. His lawyer blames it on the national poker craze and has already hired forensic experts to explain his addiction.

Now Hogan, the 19-year-old son of a Baptist minister, faces as much as 20 years in prison on bank robbery charges, and his lawyer says the nationwide poker craze is partly to blame.

''This is one of the nicest kids I've ever met, but his gambling addiction led him to make a terrible, terrible mistake,'' said Waldron of Allentown. ''There's so much good in this kid. It easily outweighs this one bad mistake.''

Lehigh University costs $40k a year. Mr. Hogan's private high school near Shaker Heights, Ohio cost $19k a year. Why rob a bank rather than call your parents, get a new credit card with a cash advance feature, take out a loan or sell your stuff? What's wrong with this picture? What a waste of a life filled with opportunity.

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    How to Ruin Your Life In a Single Day | 22 comments (22 topical)
    Re: How to Ruin Your Life In a Single Day (none / 0) (#1)
    by Punchy on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:02 PM EST
    I really hope this defense doesn't work. to blame all of this on an "addiction" is ludicrous. Gambling problem? Yes. Sure. Enough to rob a bank? Pure stupidity, but one cannot blame an addiction. I do feel bad for the kid thought. One call saves him 20 in the cooler...

    Re: How to Ruin Your Life In a Single Day (none / 0) (#2)
    by Kitt on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:02 PM EST
    Hogan's father, also named Greg, is minister at the First Baptist Church of Barberton and a former Seven Hills councilman. The family lives in Hudson.
    Yep...Hudson is pretty, pretty pricey. It's one of those exclusive zip codes. I'm pretty sure it must've been on the impossible side to call his parents or someone else, living his life where everything is just perfect. Gamblers Anonymous.

    Re: How to Ruin Your Life In a Single Day (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:02 PM EST
    This story was featured on the Abrams report on MSGOP and it seems that compassion and understanding may work for this kid.

    Re: How to Ruin Your Life In a Single Day (none / 0) (#4)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:02 PM EST
    Poker debts don't rob banks, people rob banks. Millions of people play poker responsibly, but that won't matter to the anti-gambling zealots, who will use this story to further their puritan agenda.

    Re: How to Ruin Your Life In a Single Day (none / 0) (#5)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:02 PM EST
    I almost forgot...remind me to invite this kid to my weekly game in 20 years:)

    Re: How to Ruin Your Life In a Single Day (none / 0) (#6)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:02 PM EST
    And one more thing, because this lawyer's placing the blame on a game really gets my goat. If you want to blame somebody beside the kid, blame his Baptist Minister dad. My dad taught me the golden rule of gambling at a young age during our trips to Belmont and Aqueduct, and I never forgot the lesson. "Don't bet what you can't afford to lose...ever." I'd guess this was a sheltered kid who went bonkers when he got the taste of a little freedom. The blame rest solely on him and his upbringing.

    Re: How to Ruin Your Life In a Single Day (none / 0) (#7)
    by cpinva on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:02 PM EST
    i hadn't realized baptist ministers did so well. darn, here i thought accounting was the way to go, silly me!

    Re: How to Ruin Your Life In a Single Day (none / 0) (#8)
    by Joe Bob on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:02 PM EST
    I'll bet you $100 the kid's Baptist upbringing was a large part of the reason he dealt with his gambling problem in such an irrational manner. Compared to the shame and guilt he would face if he turned to his family, holding up a bank probably seemed like a better idea. Likewise, this kid sounds like any number of people who had strict, sheltered upbringings and then had major problems when they were cut loose as young adults in college. The most typical result is a binge drinking problem of moderate duration. Easy access to high-stakes gambling is just a new way to develop a problem.

    Re: How to Ruin Your Life In a Single Day (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:03 PM EST
    Aren't most robberies triggered by addictions? It really annoys me that this poor little rich kid will get more sympathy from a jury for his addiction than would a crackhead who held up a liquor store. And seriously, who knew ministers made so much? How does this square with christian teachings on poverty? Couldn't the pastor put his kid in public high school and the church use some of that $19K a year to help the poor? Maybe send a poor recovering addict to college or something? My minister gives something like 20% of his $50K salary (and we live in an area with a fairly high cost of living) back into programs for the needy. And he gave up some of his salary so that we could get our custodian health insurance. Isn't that the example a minister is supposed to be setting if he claims to be a man of god?

    Re: How to Ruin Your Life In a Single Day (none / 0) (#10)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:03 PM EST
    C'mon guys....don't ask no questions, just have faith in the lord and give the church the 10% god demands.

    Re: How to Ruin Your Life In a Single Day (none / 0) (#11)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:03 PM EST
    Ala Owning Mahowny. Great movie, er, film.

    Re: How to Ruin Your Life In a Single Day (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:03 PM EST
    et al... and his lawyer says the nationwide poker craze is partly to blame. Wow..that's a surprise. Let's blame everything else we can except who is actually at fault.... And to think... I actually considered being a lawyer at one time! Gotta go ... time to spill coffee in my lap & sue McDonalds!

    Re: How to Ruin Your Life In a Single Day (none / 0) (#13)
    by Joe Bob on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:03 PM EST
    The McDonald's coffee case is widely misunderstood. The gist of the case: third degree burns to the groin. Ow. There are any number of internet sources which explain the nuances of this case. It's not the torts gone wild punching bag that most people make it out to be.

    Re: How to Ruin Your Life In a Single Day (none / 0) (#14)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:03 PM EST
    Yep, personal responsibility, that's what he learned at home. BTW, the McDonalds case? Joe Bob is right; The coffee was 185 deg F, and the burns (I've seen pictures, they're horrible): "The sweatpants Liebeck was wearing absorbed the coffee and held it next to her skin. A vascular surgeon determined that Liebeck suffered full thickness burns (or third-degree burns) over 6 percent of her body, including her inner thighs, perineum, buttocks, and genital and groin areas. She was hospitalized for eight days, during which time she underwent skin grafting. Liebeck, who also underwent debridement treatments, ..." McDonalds had previously had 700 similar complaints.

    Re: How to Ruin Your Life In a Single Day (none / 0) (#15)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:04 PM EST
    kdog - I share your hope to have him join any game I'm in. ;-) From the post:
    What used to be played by middle-age men in smoky backroom games is now being played by college and even high school students. If players can't find a live game, online poker is just a mouse click away, and they need only a computer and a credit card, as long as the credit limit hasn't been maxed out.
    Having done some investigation regarding how-what-why of putting an internet poker site up, the one thing I know for sure is that there isn't a credit card company around that will approve a cash deposit to an INTERNET gambling site. Been that way for about three years. My guess he lost the money in Foxwoods (CT), Atlantic City or pivate games in NYC, of which there are many.

    Re: How to Ruin Your Life In a Single Day (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:04 PM EST
    the one thing I know for sure is that there isn't a credit card company around that will approve a cash deposit to an INTERNET gambling site. Been that way for about three years.
    But:
    In order to do so,(play for cash-ed) you'll need to fund your account. Most major credit cards no longer allow you to fund a poker account with their cards, McDonald says. Instead, you'll likely need to use a third-party payment service such as NeTeller. You can fund a NeTeller account with a Visa credit card, wire transfer or electronic check from your bank and then fund your poker account from your NeTeller account. Darren has gone one step further by setting up a separate, low-dollar checking account to fund his third-party payment service. This way, if someone finds a way to compromise his account, he can contain the damage.
    Link My guess he lost the money in Foxwoods (CT), Atlantic City or pivate games in NYC, of which there are many.
    For 14 months the polite, energetic finance and accounting double major from an affluent Ohio suburb used online poker to blow off steam.

    But the hobby quickly became an addiction that led Hogan to lose about $5,000.

    The Google cache info about the article is dated 12/08/2005, so it should be up to date. TTFN, Whizzy.

    Re: How to Ruin Your Life In a Single Day (none / 0) (#17)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:04 PM EST
    DA - Knew you would show up. You're the best little search engine around. ;-) As noted my info is dated, but I still understand that no credit cards will transfer cash to a third party service recognized as a funding device for an Internet gambling site. Could be wrong, perhaps you can tell us the cards that will. Evidently this is not true for elctronic funds transfer from a bank account. So he could have opened a checking account, got cash advances from a credit card at a machine and/or approved locations/banks and deposited the money in the checking account and then transfered the money to NeTeller and then to the site. For the credit cards the issues were fraud and non-payment. Plus, I have been told that some states do not recognize gambling debts and will not take legal action to collect them. Evidently the credit card companies were een as the gambling creditor. True? Anyone? Doesn't make a lot of sense given that cash machines are all over any casino.

    Re: How to Ruin Your Life In a Single Day (none / 0) (#18)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:04 PM EST
    Sailor-
    “BTW, the McDonalds case? Joe Bob is right; The coffee was 185 deg F”
    If you come to my house for coffee or tea it will be given to you at ~212 deg F. I have to wonder if this woman had ever made a cup of coffee or tea. There are an enumerable amount of product you can purchase that, when used incorrectly, can be immediately harmful. I can think of a dozen items you shouldn’t put in your lap, i.e. any flambé. Personal responsibility indeed.

    Re: How to Ruin Your Life In a Single Day (none / 0) (#19)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:04 PM EST
    Some sites accept good old fashioned wire transfers via Western Union. I find internet poker is the checkers to live pokers chess. I wish more states would follow California's lead and open up legal cardrooms for the millions of players of this great game to do so without any legal grey area. And minors can't get in the game in live, regulated poker rooms. At my new local club, I've got one eye on the cards and one eye on the door in case the police decide to bust in and confiscate my bankroll.

    Re: How to Ruin Your Life In a Single Day (none / 0) (#21)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:06 PM EST
    DA writes: You have mastered what we knew.
    Both VISA and MasterCard are accepted forms of payment (by NetTeller, etc.)
    The question is, will the credit card company accept the request for funds from ECash, etc...... Anyone have any actual current USA experience they can share? My information is the credit card company will not if they consider the requesting company to be a fundung source for Internet gambling sites. After the credit card is "registered," they obviously have the number and what you have is a ID and a password. I wonder what the TOC says about that... The possibility of fraud is very high... And no. We are clear on only what his lawyer said. kdog - I agree. Poker is about the cards and the players. You could go to Foxwood and/or Atlantic City pretty easy... Get yourself a cheap RT to LAX and check out the world's largest cardroom...the Commerce Club. They comp food, etc. for all 15-30 and up games.

    Re: How to Ruin Your Life In a Single Day (none / 0) (#22)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:07:07 PM EST
    I wish my roll was in that kind of shape Jim...working on it at 2/5 NL. After gas and tolls (not to mention rake and tips), Foxwoods/AC trips cut into the hourly rate hardcore. I'm hoping the Shinnecocks on LI get the surrounding towns off their back and include poker in their casino plans, but that's a ways off. That leaves the underground clubs and homegames. On the CC question, my buddy can't "load up" with his regular cc through netteller or epassport, so he got one of those pre-paid cc jobs and they accept that for some reason. It may depend on the issuing bank.

    Re: How to Ruin Your Life In a Single Day (none / 0) (#23)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Mar 02, 2006 at 05:56:11 AM EST
    The way I see it. Gambling is incidious in that it can cause one to do things they never thought possible due to the need for money that supplies the addiction. I would rather see this kid get probation and do communitty service. By putting him away for 20 years or even 10 years. I as a tax payer have to pay for his incarceration. The poor sole will have a really hard time finding work even workng as a clerk in McDonalds will be out of the question because they will not hire if he has to work around money. I think he will pay consequences for what he has done for the rest of his life. It would be cheaper for society to give him probation for 10 years and treatment for the addiction and let him or his parents find a way to support him. I would say that if this was his second or third time robbing a bank to fund his addiction then it might be worth putting him in jail but if it's a one time thing what point is there in putting him in prison only so he can be raped and taught how to be a better criminal. Then there is even more cost to me the tax payer when he gets out in 10 or 20 years and commits crimes and lands back in jail.

    How to Ruin Your Life In a Single Day | 22 comments (22 topical)