I'd like to know if I've played against him.

<<Online Poker Drove Student to Rob Bank, Lawyer Says

The college sophomore needed to cover $5,000 in gambling losses, his attorney says. The son of a Baptist minister faces 20 years in prison.

By Matt Assad, The Morning Call

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Somewhere in a hectic schedule that included being president of his Lehigh University sophomore class, playing second-chair cello in the university orchestra and working at the chaplain's office, Greg Hogan developed a secret habit.

For 14 months the polite, energetic finance and accounting double major from an affluent Ohio suburb used online poker to blow off steam.
But the hobby quickly became an addiction that led Hogan to lose about $5,000.

It was that addiction that led him last week into a Wachovia bank in Allentown, where he handed a teller a note and calmly walked out with $2,871 that wasn't his, says his lawyer, John J. Waldron.

Allentown police said Hogan confessed to the robbery.

Now the 19-year-old son of a Baptist minister faces up to 20 years in prison on bank robbery charges, and his lawyer says the nationwide poker craze is partly to blame.

"This is one of the nicest kids I've ever met, but his gambling addiction led him to make a terrible, terrible mistake," Waldron said. "There's so much good in this kid. It easily outweighs this one bad mistake."

District Judge Carl L. Balliet will get a chance to consider that Jan. 31, when Hogan has a preliminary hearing on felony charges of robbery, theft and receiving stolen property.

According to Allentown police, Hogan went into the bank Friday, handed the teller a note saying he had a gun and walked out with the money. He hopped into a waiting sport utility vehicle and rode away with two members of his fraternity.

The two men in the vehicle with Hogan said he told them he was cashing a check, and both told police they knew nothing of Hogan's plans. Neither has been charged and both declined to comment Tuesday, as did the bank teller.

A witness wrote down the SUV's plate number and police arrested Hogan at his fraternity house.

The arrest shocked Hogan's classmates.

"There are some students here that you just wouldn't be surprised to see arrested," said Pat Thornton, one of Hogan's friends. "But Greg wasn't one of them. Greg's just a friendly, energetic guy. You'd have trouble finding anyone who didn't like him."

At Lehigh, students liked him enough to elect him sophomore class president. He showed enough skill on the cello to be named second chair and he worked part time in the university chaplain's office, Waldron said.

Hogan is a graduate of a private high school in Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland. His father, Gregory Sr., is a minister at the First Baptist Church of Barberton, Ohio, and his mother, Karen, holds a doctorate in nursing.

Hogan's parents and grandparents met with Waldron for 90 minutes Sunday and talked about the addiction Hogan had been keeping a secret.

Waldron said he had hired a forensic psychologist to evaluate Hogan.

"That's the million-dollar question," Waldron said. "Why would such a good kid with so much promise do this? We know he had a gambling addiction, but why didn't he seek other options? That has everyone scratching their heads."

William N. Thompson, professor of public policy at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, isn't among them. Thompson said the poker craze had arrived and Hogan was another of its victims.

What used to be played by middle-age men in smoky backrooms is being played by college and high school students.

If players can't find a live game, online poker is a mouse click away, and they need only a computer and a credit card whose credit limit hasn't been maxed out.

"It's everywhere and now it's even on the Internet, where there is almost no controls," Thompson said. "You can expect it to get worse, and you can expect to see more and more college students fall into it."

Someone should have told him about this website.

This guy robs a freakin' bank and they make it sound like online poker is the culprit.

Who cares if his dad is a minister and he plays the cello...in a little while he'll learn how to play the rusty trombone....

Did nobody else ponder what actually happened here? I only skimmed through the story, so if I'm off here, forgive me...but this is what I got out of it...

Kid owes $5000
Kid robs bank for $2871????

Ummm, not sure if it's just me, but if I'm going to rob a bank, I'm not going to do it for 58% of what I owe. wtf was he thinking?

LMFAO. Yeah why not rob the bank for $10k then you can WIN IT ALL BACK BABY!

That's funny.

Thats insane. I just moved from Allentown Pa and i know exactly where that bank is located. that is scarry i guess, but one should be responsible for his own actions. I think that when you are in college, you are old enough to understand when gambling becomes a problem. I thought he lost more than 5K, and i don't think it was a wise decision to do such a thing. you can always work and make that money back. Now he might spent the next 5 to 20 years behind bars. damn.

Do you think a judge will factor in his gambling addiction during the process? I am too lazy to look up old/similar case law, so if anyone knows post it up here. Hell, even if you don't know, post an answer. Doesn't even have to be yes or no. Could be a number. Thanks.

LOL. These helicopter jokes are cracking me up for some reason.

I know of a bank robber that got probation because of gambling, but he knew very prominent people who wrote letters on his behalf. I'd say it is very rare.

No no his frat buddy was named Online Poker. He owned the black SUV, but police figured out that he didnt know anything about it until back at the frat house.

Are you sure "Online Poker" the driver was not 'aiding and abetting'?

- ike

exactly sooted. shit, you do the crime, you do the time. end of story and end of blaming shit on something else. fuck, what do you say when a drunk driver kills on the road, oh duh alcohol is to blame. fucking moron lawyers. fuck it, he did this knowing what the consequences would be. online poker is not at fault.

I dont think his attorney is a 'moron'. He probably has to strain to keep a straight face when offering that to the judge, and knows that if you commit a crime, you will serve the consequences. The kid didn't hire a lawyer to say hell yeah he did it, what cells he in?

suited its a defence you shitbrick. the lawyer doesnt have to believe shit... hes doing what he can to cut the kid some time from jail ITS HIS JOB. you think all dfence lawyers believe the defence is real? hell no. hes makin moooooooney.

so gg to you and your talk about simple minded people