On October 18, 2019, Jennifer Zadnick, aka Jennifer Snider, age 45, of Ocean City, Maryland, was convicted of theft from $100 to $1,500 in the Snow Hill District Court. The Honorable Gerald V. Purnell scheduled sentencing for December 20, 2019, to allow Zadnick time to pay $530 in restitution to the Ocean Pines Fire Department. Zadnick faces 6 months in jail at sentencing.
The charges stem from Zadnick’s involvement in a fundraiser for the Ocean Pines Fire Department. The Fire Department contracted with Zadnick to host a "Quarter Auction" at the Ocean Pines Yacht Club in April of 2019. During the auction, guests and Fire Department officials became suspicious of fraud when they realized certain bid numbers were being drawn far more frequently than others, and that Zadnick’s son was the holder of these winning bid numbers. Fire Department officials contacted the Ocean Pines Police Department to respond, and they determined that Zadnick had duplicated her son’s bid numbers on multiple chips to make it more likely that he would win. The total value of auction items stolen by Zadnick as a result of the rigged bidding scheme was $530.
Worcester County State’s Attorney Kris Heiser thanked the Ocean Pines Fire Department and Ofc. Burns of the Ocean Pines Police Department for helping to expose this type of fraud and cautioned non-profit and charitable organizations to closely monitor fundraising events to prevent similar occurrences.
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