From the “it’s only surprising that you’re surprised” department, authorities say that the parents of a debt-ridden, compulsive gambler were killed by — shocker — their debt-ridden, compulsive gambler son.
Ernest Scherer III was arrested in Las Vegas and charged yesterday with the murder of Ernest Scherer Jr. and Charlene Abendroth. The younger Scherer had mounting debts, including from his professional poker career, and police say he wanted to claim his inheritance. Instead, he’s being shipped back to Alameda County to stand trial. Talk about a bad beat.
Scherer III quit his job in the mortgage business in 2002 to play poker full-time, and according to one poker stats site, he has made $339,000 so far. But he had borrowed $616,000 from his parents to buy a house in Orange County, had $40,000 in credit card debt and had failed to pay property taxes and mortgage payments. So what’s a gambler to do other than go all in for one big score?
Their bodies were found in their home on the grounds of the Castlewood Country Club on March 14. In an arrest affidavit, Alameda County sheriff’s Sgt. Scott Dudek said the younger Scherer had been in a “desperate financial situation” and needed his parents’ inheritance.
Scherer’s parents were beaten and stabbed in their 4,000-square-foot, three-level home, apparently after returning from dinner at the country club the night of March 7. Their pajama-clad bodies were found a week later.
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Dudek wrote that Scherer “did not appear to show much emotion” at the deaths. He seemed more interested in getting a look at the will, hoping that it would give him as much as $1.5 million, Dudek said.
Wow, what a scumbag. Though I guess poker is the only addiction it’s acceptable to let control you and call yourself a “professional.”
12:29 pm on February 25th, 2009
Now he wont have a basement to live in…
12:35 pm on February 25th, 2009
'Scumbag' is too polite a term for this a**hole.
3:10 pm on February 25th, 2009
i pwnd him @ 50-100nl online,
4:37 pm on February 25th, 2009
not a very good poker player, if he was he could'vr bluffed the police
4:40 pm on February 25th, 2009
Can you really call yourself a professional if you owe money? They always show the winnings for these guys, but they never show their losses. It's like running a restaurant and telling people that you made a million dollars…you know, before expenses, payroll, taxes, etc. Oh, after that, oh, I actually owe about $200,000. There are thousands of bums like this walking around Vegas, he just happened to have rich parents, so the story made the paper.
4:47 pm on February 25th, 2009
A lesson to be learned.. Show emotion!
4:59 pm on February 25th, 2009
Instead of resorting to murder, wouldn't it have been easier to just ask the folks for some more money?
5:42 pm on February 25th, 2009
No, he doesn't look like a murderous psychopath at all.
6:31 pm on February 25th, 2009
Ernest now has all the time in the world to look at the will. He's gotta read something while he rots away in a jail cell.
6:52 pm on February 25th, 2009
Well, we can all agree that this guy's a scumbag so lets move on to the ridiculous statement on the evils of gambling that this article is supposed to REALLY be about. Its a little sad that whoever wrote this (I dont see their name here) didnt actually read their own article. According to the article, the reason he was in debt was because of his irresponsible spending habits. So let me guess…we dont know if he was in the hole from poker, so lets just assume he was? That's some good objective reporting there.By the way, the key to professional poker is money management, and there's no TRUE poker pro (as opposed to someone who plays poker because he doesnt want to work for a living) who will tell you otherwise.
1:20 am on February 26th, 2009
My thoughts exactly, Trotter. If your <cough cough> "career" drives up massive debt and can't actually sustain you, it ain't a career.
The fry guy at McDonald's has a better career.
2:18 am on February 26th, 2009
Obviously he should have chosen a better career than poker playing.