Philadelphia Region Local News

by Liz Keptner
ALLENTOWN (AP) ― A former Lehigh University class president who robbed a bank to feed his Internet poker addiction was sentenced Thursday to 22 months to 10 years in prison.

Greg Hogan Jr., 20, pleaded guilty in Lehigh County Court last month to one count of felony bank robbery in a case that highlighted the growing popularity—and potential pitfalls—of online gambling among college students.

Hogan, the son of a Baptist minister from Ohio, was a sophomore at Lehigh when he walked into a Wachovia branch in Allentown on Dec. 9, handed the teller a note and made off with $2,871. He was arrested that night at orchestra rehearsal.

He was led away in handcuffs immediately after Lehigh County President Judge William Platt sentenced him Thursday afternoon. As his mother, brother and sister wept, Hogan turned to them and mouthed, "I love you."

Hogan became addicted to online gambling after starting at Lehigh in 2004, overdrawing his bank account by $1,000 and even stealing from his sister to feed his habit, prosecutors said. Hogan has described the robbery as an act of desperation and, earlier this year, completed a 36-day treatment program for gambling addiction in Louisiana.

Hogan, a talented musician who played at Carnegie Hall as a teenager, apologized Thursday to the bank teller he robbed, to the school and to his family and friends. He said his "sick mind" led him to believe that robbing the bank would solve his problems.

Hogan, who hoped for probation or a short jail term with work release, asked Platt for leniency.

"I feel I deserve a second chance ... because I can spread awareness about compulsive gambling," said Hogan, who attends Gamblers Anonymous meetings and meets with a therapist.

Prosecutors scoffed at Hogan's claim that he committed the robbery because he was desperate, noting that he owed his fraternity brothers only a few hundred dollars and that those were not gambling debts.

"There's been much said about Greg Hogan, (about) who he is and what he's done with his life," said First Assistant District Attorney Maria Dantos. "There's been very little attention paid to the fact that people who work in a bank have this as a daily threat. ... The fact that Greg Hogan played the cello is of little import."

Wachovia employee Donna Frack told the judge she felt terrorized by Hogan's actions that day. "He should be treated like any other criminal," she said.

As he sentenced Hogan, Platt noted that addicts come into his courtroom every day who do not have the advantages in life that Hogan did. He said the seriousness of the crime warranted prison.

The judge recommended that Hogan serve his sentence at the state prison at Pine Grove, a maximum security prison for youthful offenders.

Hogan's father, the Rev. Gregory Hogan Sr., said Thursday that he was disappointed by the sentence but that he felt grateful that "I still have my son," referring to a 19-year-old gambling addict in Ohio who committed suicide earlier this year.

Hogan, the pastor of First Baptist Church of Barberton in Barberton, Ohio, and a former city councilman in Seven Hills, Ohio, said his son's story should serve as a warning to college students about the dangers of Internet gambling.

He criticized colleges and universities for not doing more to address the problem.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg. Internet gambling is becoming more and more of an issue in our culture and in our society," he said.

(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)