Mum guilty of stealing from cheerleaders

A woman today pleaded guilty to stealing from her daughters' cheerleading squad so she could play the poker machines.

Carlynn Saunders-Clarke, 30, was remanded on bail to reappear in Waitakere District Court in Auckland on August 3.

Saunders-Clarke, who in 2007 had two daughters in a Whangarei cheer squad, had faced three charges of causing loss by deception.

The amount involved was reported to be nearly $9000 and came from the squad's fundraising efforts for a trip across the Tasman.

The squad did manage to get to Australia after parents chipped in with more money.

Before entering her guilty pleas, Saunders-Clarke, who has moved from Whangarei to West Auckland, said what she did "eats me up every day".

"I never planned on doing it," she had told a Sunday newpaper. "I had a gambling problem and it was brought on by a family crisis."

- NZPA