Casino-Visiting Grandma Allegedly Steals Firearm During Michigan Home Invasion

Posted on: June 23, 2022, 09:46h. 

Last updated on: June 23, 2022, 09:52h.

Ed Silverstein @casinoorgedsilv Read More
Expertise: Legal, Tribal Gaming.

A 57-year-old grandmother was sentenced to prison recently after she allegedly stole a loaded .22 caliber pistol from a Sherwood Township, Mich. residence. She also stole a pot filled with coins in the Dec. 22, 2020 home break-in, police said.

Genoa Sigerfoos
Genoa Sigerfoos, pictured above. She is heading to prison after a house break-in. She needed the items to cover her gambling debt. (Image: Daily Reporter)

Genoa Sigerfoos, who recently lived in Indiana, admitted she took the items to cover gambling debts.

She broke the house’s front window to grab the items, police said. The incident took place after she stopped at an unnamed casino.

She now faces a sentence of between 19 months to 15 years. She pled guilty to second-degree home invasion.

Branch County Michigan Circuit Court Judge Bill O’Grady questioned Sigerfoos in a recent court appearance.

Normally we don’t have 50-plus year ladies sitting here on home invasion charges,” O’Grady told her, according to the Daily Reporter, a Greenfield, Ind. newspaper.

Prosecutor Demands Prison Time

Michigan Prosecutor Zack Stempien asked the judge that she be sentenced to prison.

Certainly, I think it’s time in our community that we start to send a message… It’s not OK to break into people’s homes. It’s not OK to steal. It does not belong to you,” Stempien said in court, the Daily Reporter reported.

Previously, she was convicted for three felonies related to possession of methamphetamine (meth), the newspaper said. She was also convicted on four misdemeanors, the report adds. Her drug arrests went back as far as 20 years.

“I’ve been clean since 2019,” Sigerfoos told the judge. “I’m changing my life.”

Previously, she spent 210 days behind bars. She has a second residence in Ohio.

Problem Gambler Robberies

In an unrelated court case, in April a Utah man was sentenced to seven years’ incarceration after the robberies of two credit unions. He was described as having serious gambling addiction and faced mounting gambling losses, according to recent news reports.

On April 26, Utah federal Judge Ted Stewart sentenced Kevin Dean Rasband, 36, of Layton, Utah, for two counts of bank robbery and one count of brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence, the Standard-Examiner, a Utah newspaper, reported. The credit unions are located in Kaysville and Farmington, Utah.

Under a deal, Rasband entered a guilty plea and prosecutors dropped a second firearm charge. He must also pay $23,300 in restitution. After his release from prison, he will be placed under supervision for three years.

Within three years, he lost more than $100,000 while gambling, the report added. He also was suicidal, the newspaper reported. His wife convinced him to turn himself into authorities.

Before his arrest, Rasband was an internal auditor for the Davis County Clerk-Auditor’s Office. He used a firearm when robbing the credit unions, authorities said.