Former San Diego Mayor Maureen O'Connor admitted during a federal court hearing held on Thursday that she took $2.1 million from her deceased husband's charity to feed a gambling addiction that stretched for years, the Associated Press reports.
The 66-year-old won roughly $1 billion playing video poker at casinos in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and San Diego from 2001 through 2009. But she would eventually lose it all and owe about $13 million in gambling debt.
O'Connor took the $2.1 million from her husband's nonprofit organization, R.P. Foundation, to pay the gambling debts, cover living expenses, and to gamble some more. She pleaded not guilty to a money laundering charge in an agreement with prosecutors who will postpone the trial for two years so O'Connor can repay the foundation and get treatment for gambling addiction.
The hours that O'Connor spent gambling have left her pennyless. She lost about $50 million she inherited from her husband Robert O. Peterson, founder of the Jack in the Box fast-food chain. He died from leukemia in 1994.
During a press conference, O'Connor blamed her gambling habit on a brain tumor that was diagnosed in 2011. The tumor was removed but doctors wrote to the court describing side effects that still plague O'Connor's health. Officials at the U.S. attorney's office said her medical condition was the reason why they decided to strike an agreement with O'Connor.
"There are two Maureens, Maureen number one and Maureen number two. Maureen number two is the Maureen who did not know she had a tumor growing in her brain," O'Connor said to the media. She refused to answer any questions.
At 25-years-old O'Connor was elected to the San Diego City Council. She was mayor from 1986 to 1992.