Embezzling funds from a state lottery is no joke
By Kate Northrop
A former Vice President at the Mississippi Lottery pleaded guilty to embezzlement of over $187,000 and was sentenced to 20 years in state custody.
On Thursday, the Mississippi Office of the State Auditor announced that a former Mississippi Lottery Vice President pleaded guilty to embezzlement.
According to State Auditor Shad White's press release, Hope Bishop, who served as the Vice President of Human Resources at the Mississippi Lottery Corporation, was accused of giving herself unauthorized raises.
She was arrested in November 2023 after Lottery staff discovered the embezzlement and reported it to the State Auditor's office when they were improving lottery operations. At the time of Bishop's arrest, she was served with a demand for $187,738.85, a repayment for what she stole.
The Lottery has since put additional controls into place to prevent embezzlement in the future, White said in his statement.
According to the State Auditor, Bishop had no access to the gaming side of lottery operations, so her actions did not affect the integrity of lottery games.
The maximum penalty former Lottery Vice President faced was up to 20 years in prison and $25,000 in fines.
Bishop was prosecuted by the Rankin County District Attorney's Office and pleaded guilty to embezzlement. She was sentenced to 20 years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. 15 of the 20 years are suspended, and she will serve five of the 20-year sentence on house arrest, followed by five years of supervised probation. She was also ordered to pay "fines, fees, and investigative costs."
"I'm thankful for the efforts of the investigators, prosecutors, and the Lottery Corporation for the joint work required to bring this case to a close," State Auditor White said in his press release.
An insurance policy covered Bishop's employment at the Lottery.
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Again, the greatest issue of concern, with the alleged claim of a need for winner transparency, is actually with the lottery employees themselves. Time and time again.
Anonymity for all states now!
One of the poorest states in America and some manage to still feel a need to steal from it, she ought to be ashamed of herself! Too bad they took 15 years off but 5 years should teach her a lesson.
* ...and Eddie Tipton got a slap on the wrist for how many millions?
She only doing five on house arrest smh
Did Mississippi just start playing lottery just a few years ago??
if you're gonna embezzle, you should give everyone an "unauthorized raise."
considering all the interesting points and BL's remark
she gets to make all kinds new friends for the time she spends in a cell block
cellblock? she's only getting house arrest, brah.
Yes in 2018-and she stole that money in 6 years? She must have been waiting on the lottery. She needs some in prison time.
What a joke of a sentence except for the part paying the money back. That being said suppose she fails restitution?
I couldn't agree more.
She wont even do five years. It's very easy to have good behavior while doing your sentence under house arrest. They'll shave off a few years of her sentence for that. She'll do maybe two and a half to three years total time.
Non violent first offender is why they took 15 years off her sentence to begin with. G5
Interesting that they dont say HOW the embezzlement was done? And what department was she the vice president of?