A tragic gambling addiction-related criminal case took a step forward this week when the defendant pleaded guilty.
It’s a story of a former veterinary clinic manager embezzling $624,000 from Help For Animals, the West Virginia non-profit he worked for, to fuel what he said was his online gambling addiction.
He lost all $624,000 to online gambling, according to court filings.
GamblingHarm.org dug through the federal court filings and could find no mention of which gambling platform(s) he used. His attorney hasn’t responded to a request for that information.
West Virginia has state-sanctioned online casinos, sportsbooks, and iLottery. The defendant may also have used a prediction market, offshore site, or sweepstakes casino.
Court documents show that Jerod Vannatter, 43, was making $110,000 a year.
Vannatter is scheduled to be sentenced in February 2027 and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. He also owes $624,599.86 in restitution.
The clinic told a local news station that it was “blindsided” by the embezzlement and has struggled financially, but it has survived. It will continue to serve local families and their animals.
“We trusted him, he was part of our family,” said new clinic manager Vicki Graham. “The part that is the hardest is that he has shown no remorse. He betrayed every one of us, and he hasn’t once apologized.”
Gambling addiction typically harms many other people, but in this case it could have also been countless animals.
