Jack in the Box Manager Admits Stealing $232K to Feed Gambling Addiction

A former Jack in the Box manager admitted in a California court this week that he stole more than $232,000 from the fast-food restaurant to cover his gambling debts.

On Oct. 20, Juan Jose Antonio Vanegas, 30, pleaded no contest to felony embezzlement by an employee.

Vanegas had previously pleaded not guilty. In exchange for his no-contest plea, prosecutors in San Mateo County agreed to strike an enhancement charge that would have allowed Judge Jeffrey Jackson to impose a maximum sentence upon conviction.

At his sentencing, scheduled for Dec. 10, the judge will instead consider a sentence of up to one year in county jail with no state prison time. In California, an employee convicted of felony embezzlement involving more than $200,000 can otherwise face more than two years in state prison.

Theft Linked to Gambling

Court records show that Vanegas was a manager at the Jack in the Box in Redwood City located at 986 Woodside Road. During his employment, Vanegas admitted to stealing at least $232,282 from the fast-food restaurant, with nearly all of the money going to support the defendant’s “gambling problem.”

A criminal investigation concluded that Vanegas failed to make 120 bank deposits of daily restaurant revenue, keeping the cash for himself instead. The thefts occurred over a seven-month span between Jan. 1, 2025, and Aug. 1, 2025.

Law enforcement did not specify the exact casinos or platforms Vanegas frequented. While Redwood City is not located near any tribal casinos, several commercial cardrooms operate within a short drive.

Online sweepstakes casino platforms were also widely accessible in California throughout the timeframe of the thefts, prior to state legislation and Gov. Gavin Newsom signing a ban prohibiting the controversial operator model effective Jan. 1, 2026.

Vanegas remains free on his own recognizance pending his December sentencing date.

Not Jack in the Box’s First Gambling Scandal

The case marks another high-profile gambling scandal tied to figures associated with the fast-food brand.

In February 2013, former San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor was charged in federal court with money laundering. O’Connor, the widow of Jack in the Box founder Robert O. Peterson, later admitted to siphoning funds from her late husband’s charitable foundation, the R.P. Foundation, to fuel a massive gambling addiction.

After squandering a $40 million personal fortune at casinos, O’Connor tapped into the charitable fund. She ultimately resolved federal charges through a deferred prosecution agreement requiring her to repay $2 million in stolen funds.

O’Connor later attributed her escalating compulsion to gamble to a brain tumor that was surgically removed in 2011.