Rachel Duncan appears at court in Columbia. (Courtesy WACH FOX)COLUMBIA, SC (AP) -
The South Carolina Hospitality Association's former accounting director says an online betting addiction led to her taking about $500,000 from the group and gambling it all away.
The State reports 41-year-old Rachel Duncan says she has nothing left of the missing money. Duncan's past financial problems include a mortgage foreclosure filing on a home she co-owns, state tax liens and unpaid credit card debt.
Duncan pleaded guilty this week to federal tax evasion and wire fraud charges that could send her to prison for years.
Her admission came 10 weeks after Hospitality Association chief executive officer Tom Sponseller was reported missing. He was found 10 days later shot to death in a storage room at group's offices.
Sponseller's suicide note said Duncan admitted taking the missing money.
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