Breaking News: NFL Star Chris Jones Offers to Pay for $1.5 Million Worth of Stolen Chicken Wings After Cafeteria Worker Is Sentenced…see more

When the Chicago defense lawyer saw reports that an NFL star wanted to put down over $1 million of his own money to get a local cafeteria worker out of prison, he thought it was a hoax.

O’Byrne says the church-going 68-year-old woman from Cook County, Ill., who had no previous criminal record, made false orders of chicken wings, which she then resold and gambled away the proceeds.

“She’s just a little sweetheart that’s got a gambling problem,” says O’Byrne, adding: “She feels beyond terrible about this. This is totally uncharacteristic of her. It was the disease taking over.”

Records obtained by PEOPLE show that she struggled financially, filing for bankruptcy at least twice in Chicago courts in 2009 and 2016.