Feds: Worker Stole $150K from Veterans to Pay for Sex, Strippers and Gambling

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A former federal employee from Ann Arbor has admitted he stole $150,000 from a southeast Michigan Veterans Affairs retail store and used the money to pay for sex with a stripper, $500 lap dances and a gambling spree, according to the Justice Department.

Glenn Alan Bates admitted during a 2014 interview with federal agents that he stole the money from vending machines at a Veterans Affairs Canteen that he managed to feed his sex addiction, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court.

If convicted of the embezzling charges, Bates could spend up to a decade in prison. He was arraigned Tuesday, according to reports by the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News.

In the complaint, Veterans Affairs Special Agent Frederick K. Lane said Bates admitted he used some of the money to pay for sex with a stripper named “Ashley” in Columbus, OH, and also gambled away some of the cash at casinos in Battle Creek and Indianapolis.

Bates told the federal agent that he met Ashley in 2008 at the Centerfold strip club while in Columbus on business assisting with canteen operations at the VA Medical Center. He returned there frequently, often spending up to $500 a night on lap dances, and eventually convinced Ashley to return with him to his hotel room, where he paid for sex.

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Bates said he developed a sex addiction and stole to fuel it, engaging in frequent trysts with Ashley, other strippers and prostitutes.

The charges stem from an investigation that began in 2013 after an audit showed a potential loss of $478,000 in fiscal year 2012. Investigators looked at records dating back to 2007, concentrating on three primary areas: losses from the sale of commemorative hats; vending machine losses; and missing cash from Veterans Canteen Services at the VA’s Ann Arbor Healthcare System.

Bates managed the store from May 2006 to March 2013. He admitted to investigators that he stole about $150,000 during a three-year period, but said he wasn’t responsible for the nearly $500,000 unaccounted for in the audit, according to the complaint.