MOUNT DESERT, Maine (AP) – A former convenience store manager accused of embezzling more than $20,000 told police he spent – and lost – all of the money at the newly opened Hollywood Slots in Bangor.

John Ethridge, 40, of Trenton, was charged last week with the Class B theft of $23,000 cash from On The Run in Somesville.

“He didn’t admit to taking the money upfront, but once he did, he was upfront about where he had gone,” said Mount Desert Police Chief Jim Willis.

Surveillance video from Nov. 25 show Ethridge playing the slots. He also went to Hollywood Slots on Dec. 10, officials said.

“He was pretty much on the high-end machines,” Officer Leigh Guildford said. “By the time he was done, he had lost it all.”

While parts of Ethridge’s story could be verified by police, racino officials doubted that Ethridge fed that much money into the slot machines. The biggest wager that can be made is $5, so he would have had to pull the arm 4,600 times.

“We obviously can’t prove or disprove, but it’s unlikely,” said Jon Johnson, general manager of Hollywood Slots. “That level of activity would not go unnoticed.”

If Ethridge’s story is true, he should be considered a thief rather than a problem gambler, said Bill Welch, executive director of the Maine Gambling Control Board.

“I don’t think he stole the money because he just had to play the slot machines,” he said. “I think he stole the money and then went to play the slot machines. … The responsibility is this guy. He stole the money. He could have gone to the next store down the road on Mount Desert Island to buy $23,000 worth of scratch-off lottery tickets.”

Ethridge, who’d worked for the convenience store for just two months, had no criminal history with their department and will appear in Hancock County Superior Court on Jan. 25 for his arraignment, police said.

Theft of more than $10,000 is a Class B crime and can be punishable by up to 10 years in prison, the chief said.

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Information from: Bangor Daily News, http://www.bangornews.com

AP-ES-01-13-06 1441EST