Groton – A 69-year-old woman with a history of larceny convictions was arraigned Wednesday in New London Superior Court on charges she defrauded four people out of $22,000 to fuel a gambling addiction.

Rosemarie A. Pokorski, who has most recently been living and working at the Cedar Park Inn & Suites at 85 Norwich Westerly Road, North Stonington, was charged with first-degree larceny, securities fraud and three counts of second-degree larceny.

Pokorski, who wore slacks, a button-down sweater and handcuffs as she stood before Judge John M. Newson, began to cry when the judge set her bond at $25,000 cash or surety, based, he said, on her criminal history and the nature of the allegations.

“This is apparently a very well thought-out plan to defraud others,” Newson said.

Pokorski was the subject of a joint investigation by Sgt. John Moore of the Groton Long Point Police Department and Waterford detective John A. Davis, who was assigned to a financial crimes task force of the U.S. Secret Service.

Targeting a North Stonington woman she met through a Craigslist advertisement, friends she made while living on Island Avenue in Groton Long Point and a man who worked at a local car dealership, Pokorski entered into a series of contracts in which she took money from the victims with the promise that she would generate a profit for them, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. She told victims she would be investing in collectibles and antiques from auctions and estate sales, sometimes doing business under the name of “Second Impressions,” a company she failed to register with the Secretary of the State, pay taxes on or file the necessary trade name certificates, according to the affidavit.

Pokorski repeatedly promised the victims she would repay them, but employed “excuse upon excuse” to avoid them, according to the affidavit. On one occasion, she said she was out of town, helping her daughter who had been standing next to the man who had both of his legs blown off during the Boston Marathon bombing. On another, she said she was in Massachusetts, tending to her daughter who had breast cancer. Contacted by police, the daughter stated both claims were untrue.

Pokorski told one victim she was run off the road on Route 214 in Ledyard and forced to seek medical treatment — an incident police confirmed never happened — and on another occasion said she was out of state and sick in bed with a high fever.

The investigators obtained Pokorski’s bank records, which showed deposits corresponding with the dates the victims’ checks were cashed followed by multiple cash withdrawals, many of them from ATMs at Atlantic City casinos.

During an interview at the Waterford Police Department, Pokorski admitted she owed each of the victims money and said some of the contracts she entered were “intentionally fraudulent,” according to the affidavit. She said she knew she could “use deceit to get money from these people to feed my addiction.”

Pokorski has prior convictions in Rhode Island for using fraudulent checks and obtaining money via false pretense, and has convictions in Connecticut that include four counts of third-degree larceny, eight counts of failure to file a tax return and violation of probation.

Convicted of larceny in 2004, she was given a suspended prison sentence and five years of probation and made full restitution to the victim, according to Bail Commissioner Timothy Gilman.

The judge appointed attorney Jennifer Nowak from the public defender’s office to represent Pokorski and continued the case to Nov. 24.

k.florin@theday.com

Twitter: @KFLORIN