OREGON CITY, Ore. (AP) - A woman convicted of stealing from her employer avoided prison after a judge agreed with her argument that a prescription medication ignited a gambling addiction.
     
Clackamas County Judge Kathie Steele placed Christine Jaeger of Beaverton on five years' probation after hearing she had been taking a drug for restless-leg syndrome. She also ordered Jaeger to repay the $233,000 she stole from Langdon Farms Golf Club.
     
"The substances she was ingesting diminished her mental capacity in some fashion," Steele said. "The breach of trust and multiple criminal episodes can all be laid to the drug issue."
     
Prosecutor Bryan Brock said the drug may have triggered the addiction, but questioned whether it would cause Jaeger to forget that stealing is wrong.
     
Jaeger, 56, was charged with aggravated theft last year for writing dozens of checks to herself while working as a bookkeeper at Langdon Farms.
     
Jaeger, who was taking Mirapex for restless-leg syndrome and another medication for migraines, soon became a frequent visitor, and loser, at Spirit Mountain Casino.
     
Jaeger later pleaded guilty to aggravated theft.
     
"I would like to say how sorry I am for what happened," Jaeger said in court Monday. "I will carry deep regret for the rest of my life. And now, restitution is my primary goal."
     
Her defense attorney, Katherine Weber, noted that Mirapex has been the subject of several pending civil suits by patients who suffered ill effects.
     
Weber played a YouTube video of an ad by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, which manufactures Mirapex, warning patients to alert their doctors if they experience "increased gambling, sexual or other intense urges."
     
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)