Woman loses state pension in gambling embezzlement case

Longtime state worker Lisa E. Bloomer, who collected more than $200,000 in pay for hours she spent gambling at the region's two casinos, is now a ward of the state.

Judge Patrick J. Clifford on Monday sentenced Bloomer to two years in prison for embezzling from the Department of Developmental Services. She had pleaded no contest to first-degree larceny.

Bloomer, 50, of Plainfield, supervised 12 staff employees who cared for people with intellectual disabilities at the Church St. Client Living Arrangement in Mystic. She claimed she was working, but instead, was gambling at the area's casinos when she submitted forged payroll and attendance documents between 2005 and 2007, according to prosecutor Stephen M. Carney. She pleaded guilty last month to first-degree larceny.

Clifford did not order restitution because Bloomer had already forfeited the pension she would have received after more than 25 years as a state employee.

According to a report from the State Employee Retirement and Benefit Services Division, Bloomer asked for a refund of the contributions she had made to the pension plan plus interest. She was reimbursed $29,736. She would have been eligible to retire in 2016 and collect approximately $67,000 per year.

- Karen Florin