Liquor store clerk steals customer’s $3M lottery ticket left on counter, official says
.jpg "A liquor store clerk stole a customer’s winning $3 million lottery ticket in Massachusetts, officials say.")
A customer left lottery tickets on a liquor store counter after buying the tickets and a bag of barbecue potato chips.
Hours later, one of his tickets was announced as a $3 million prize, Massachusetts officials said.
After the man drove away with his chips from Savas Liquors in Lakeview on Jan. 17, he searched for his tickets and assumed he had lost them, according to the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office.
What he didn’t know was that the store clerk who rang him up held onto his tickets and tried stealing the winnings, the office announced in a May 12 news release.
Two days later, the 23-year-old clerk, of Lakeview, showed up at the Massachusetts State Lottery headquarters in Dorchester and claimed the man’s $3 million prize on Jan. 19, according to the district attorney’s office.
However, state lottery officials didn’t give the woman the cash after interviewing her — instead launching an investigation that ultimately revealed she had stolen the ticket, the release said.
She was indicted on charges of larceny from a building, attempted larceny, presentation of a false claim and witness intimidation, the district attorney’s office announced.
The lottery ticket is wrongly claimed
About 45 minutes after the true lottery winner forgot his tickets at Savas Liquors, the store clerk rang up another customer who bought lottery tickets and had noticed two extra were left in the ticket terminal, the release said.
The customer handed her the tickets and she said “they must have belonged to ‘him,’” according to officials.
On Jan. 19, a co-worker drove the woman and her boyfriend to claim the man’s winning lottery prize, officials said.
When she handed in the ticket, it was ripped and burnt, the release said.
Despite this, the ticket was scanned and revealed as a $3 million winner, according to officials.
The couple celebrated, but an argument ensued after the woman told her boyfriend she’d only give him $200,000 of the winnings, according to surveillance footage.
Based on that argument and ticket’s damaged quality when she turned it in, state lottery investigators interviewed the clerk, according to the release.
She lied and told investigators she had bought the ticket at the end of work on Jan. 17 and accidentally ripped it when taking it out from her wallet, officials said. She said the burn marks were from a pipe, according to the release.
Investigators then called state police, officials said.
Surveillance footage from Savas Liquor showed the customer purchased the winning ticket instead of her, according to the release.
Ultimately, the woman switched her story and said “she inadvertently obtained the winning ticket,” officials said.
The customer was eventually found by investigators who posted flyers, searched the Lakeville area and interviewed additional store customers, according to the release.
The Massachusetts State Lottery Commission plans to pay the man his $3 million prize, officials said.
McClatchy News contacted a state lottery official for comment on May 16 and didn’t immediately receive a response.
In addition to the charges brought against the store clerk, her 32-year-old boyfriend of Manchester, New Hampshire, was indicted on an extortion charge, according to the district attorney’s office.
The couple is scheduled to appear in court for arraignments, officials said.
Attorney information for the couple wasn’t immediately available.
Lakeview is about 15 miles northwest of Boston.
This story was originally published May 16, 2023 at 12:56 PM with the headline "Liquor store clerk steals customer’s $3M lottery ticket left on counter, official says."
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