As someone who has dealt with the frustration of being robbed, I'm not typically one to feel pity for a thief. That being said, knowing that this particular thief ended up with nothing more than $160,000 in virtual Zynga crap, you've got to wonder what the worse punishment is: five years in prison or a lifetime of being known as the "YoVille Villian"?
Bettysue Higgins, 54, of Gardiner, Maine, pleaded guilty to forging checks and paperwork in order to embezzle $166,000 from her employer, the Maine Trial Lawyers Association. Though where most of us gamers would've spent the money on a sweet HDTV setup with all the latest gaming consoles, Higgins was apparently content to blow her purloined cash on YoVille and Mafia Wars crap. Sadly, we have no details on what the heck she was buying, but you can be sure that you didn't want your Mafia Wars family to go up against her hundred thousand dollar crime empire.
Higgins' sentence will be capped at six years in prison with all but five years suspended, and three years of probation. As part of her probation, Higgins is also required to pay $166,700 in restitution, but given that her house has just been foreclosed on, it seems more likely she'll be declaring bankruptcy.
Too bad she can't move into her sweet YoVille mansion…
