A nearly year-long investigation into financial discrepancies at Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course has culminated in the arrest of a former employee accused of stealing over $727,000.
Jennifer Petrillo, 53, a former part-time horse racing bookkeeper, was arraigned last Thursday on nine felony counts, including theft, forgery, and computer trespassing. Authorities allege Petrillo orchestrated a sophisticated fraud scheme that funded a lifestyle of luxury, including plastic surgery, a Tesla, and high-end investments.
The investigation began in March 2025 when a colleague, filling in for Petrillo while she was on medical leave, discovered “glaring discrepancies” in the casino’s bookkeeping software. Management quickly realized these were not clerical errors but a deliberate effort to siphon funds.
According to the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Gaming Enforcement, the scheme involved: creating fake identities and business entities within the casino’s system, issuing physical checks to these false accounts, which were then diverted to Petrillo and a family member. Several legitimate accounts showed unexplained negative balances totaling tens of thousands of dollars.
Investigators traced the stolen $727,446.65 to various personal accounts. Police report that the embezzled funds were used for a wide array of non-essential purchases, including:
A Tesla Model 3
Luxury spa treatments and plastic surgeries
Extensive LEGO collections
Stock investments via Robinhood and hundreds of Cash App transfers
“This was a calculated abuse of a position of trust,” investigators noted, pointing out that Petrillo was one of only three employees with the high-level system access required to execute such transactions.
Petrillo, who recently moved from Palmyra to Manheim, was released on a $10,000 bail. She is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on March 24, 2026, before Magisterial District Judge Dale E. Klein. If convicted on all counts, she faces a significant prison sentence.
The casino has stated it is cooperating fully with law enforcement and has since reviewed its internal financial controls to prevent similar insider threats.
