Tamara Mahlberg was a trusted employee with a secret addiction that caused her to embezzle $340,000 over two years. She's sharing her story in hopes others with a gambling problem won't dip into the company till to pay for their losses.

They are trusted employees whose job is to watch every penny, yet sometimes they turn to embezzlement.

On work release at Community Corrections in Lincoln, Tamara is a trusted inmate, but she's doing time for breaking the trust of her employer by embezzling company money.

"Twenty-five hundred at a time, maybe $5,000 a month. I never kept track of it, then when they came up with the figure of $340,000, I literally was sick."

The urge to gamble at casinos overwhelmed her loyalty as office manager for an Omaha company. "I'd write a check from the office and deposit it to cover my bad check, then I'd have to cover that up. But I'd write it for a little bit more money so I could gamble."

Tamara continued her two years of embezzling despite numerous wake-up calls, like the time she came to work and saw a police cruiser parked out front.

The officer was investigating a break-in next door, but she didn't know that. "I just shook and sweated. That's all I was obsessed about, gambling and covering it up."

Finally, one check she failed to cover up led police to come for her. “For some reason, I thought I could explain what had happened and I would pay this back. I just wanted this to go away, but no."

Serving two-to-four years, Tamara is up for parole next month. She's received addiction treatment to prepare her for release. “I'll do everything in my power to get as much money paid back when I get the chance.”

That means getting a job, probably not as a bookkeeper, but as a worker she promises can be trusted. “I always thought I wanted material things until you lose your freedom. That means a whole lot more."

The fraud investigator for Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine has more insight. Lance Ivener has investigated more than 100 embezzlement cases.

He says business owners are inviting trouble when they have their signatures on a rubber stamp.

He also says more than one bookkeeper should manage the checking account and bosses should be on the alert for problem gamblers.

Ivener says most embezzlement cases involve gambling.