Tamaqua restaurateur Alphonso Picone gambled thousands of dollars a month at Sands Casino in Bethlehem, and owed the state $1.2 million in delinquent taxes while his business was bleeding red ink, a forensic accountant told a Schuylkill County jury Tuesday.

Dennis Houser of Financial Forensic Consultants of Lebanon, testified that hundreds of thousands of dollars infused into La Dolce Casa from an ill, elderly couple’s bank accounts that kept the restaurant from closing.In the second day of Picone’s trial before President Judge William E. Baldwin on charges of swindling $315,492 between January and December 2014 from then-91-year-old John and Ella Burnard of Lake Hauto. Houser was the prosecution’s star witness.Picone, 46, was charged in May 2015 by then-Rush Township patrolman Thomas R. Fort.The trial is expected to continue through Friday; it has yet to reach the defense phase.Picone is represented by Ross M. Miller of Lansdale, who argues the money was a gift to his client, whom the Burnards thought of as a son.Houser projected a spreadsheet tracking the flow of funds from the Burnards’ accounts into Picone’s personal and business accounts, and to contractors who did work on his house along Owl Creek Road.Another spreadsheet revealed La Dolce Casa typically ran in the red by about $5,000 a month; often it was only infusions from the Burnards’ accounts that allowed Picone to pay the bills.For example, in July 2014, he deposited zero cash into his restaurant business account while spending $17,840 at the Sands Casino in Bethlehem.But he deposited $70,000 from the Burnards’ accounts into his personal account, Houser said.In April 2014, Picone spent $27,450 at the casino while depositing only $2,750 cash into his business account.According to testimony, $35,000 went from the Burnards’ accounts into Picone’s.Without the Burnards’ money, Picone could not have maintained his business, Houser said.Houser also supported prosecutor Deputy Attorney General Michelle L. Laucella’s contention that the money was not a gift to Picone.He gave three reasons: The checks to Picone were often drawn on insufficient funds; most of the checks, drawn using “temporary” checks, the kind one gets from the bank while awaiting a fresh supply of regular checks, were not logged in the check register; and there was no evidence that a gift tax return had been filed.On Monday, John W. Burnard, now 93, testified that neither he nor his wife, as far as he knew, gave Picone large sums as gifts.Ella E. Burnard, who died on June 13, handled the finances in the family, her husband testified.She was meticulous. But as her mental deterioration worsened in 2013, she sought help in filling out checks to pay bills from Picone, at whose restaurant the couple frequently ate.Houser said he saw an “abrupt change” in the couples’ check register in August 2014. No entries were made, only a balance was listed, and in handwriting different from Ella’s.The couple’s spending patterns also changed, with Ella signing checks for large amounts to Picone.Laucella and Houser detailed each of the 17 checks and two cash withdrawals totaling $319,000, made out to Picone between August 2013 and December 2014 and drawn on the Burnards’ bank and retirement accounts.Picone had been added to the couple’s retirement account on July 31, 2014.“The Burnards never spent money like they did on Picone in 2014,” Houser said.