OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An employee of a performing arts group in Omaha has pleaded no contest to abuse of a vulnerable adult for taking about $113,000 from his mother, who suffers from dementia.
The Omaha World-Herald reports that attorneys for 53-year-old John C. Gawf Jr. said the money was used to fuel the defendant's gambling addiction.
General director Roger Weitz says Gawf is the resident music director at Opera Omaha but declined to comment further. Opera Omaha spokeswoman Katie Broman says the organization didn't know about the charge before Wednesday.
Officials say Gawf took money from Thelma Gawf from May 2015 to January 2016. He gave bank documents to the investigator and said he had been using the stolen money to gamble.
Gawf didn't respond to the newspaper's call seeking comment.
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