I feel bad for the guy, this is the dumbest act I have ever heard of.  If he gets 5 1/2 years, hopefully he will be out in 1-2 years (likely, being a non-violent offender).  It will teach him a lesson and let everyone know this type of crime is unacceptable.  After all, isn't this grand, grand, grand larseny.  Tell the court it was a stupid act and he should do some time for it and leave it up to them what to do next.  Just a felony conviction is going to haunt him for the rest of his life, but he knew what he was doing when he tried to steal half a million dollars from you.

Eventually some winner will give a lottery legal notice that this rule places them in harms way. Once that is done it would open the lottery up to very heavy financial damage should anything happen to the winner. The estate of a winner getting murdered over the prize would get more than what the prize was worth. It will only take one time for this to happen before all states allow anonymous claims especially of jackpot style games. Of course if the winner chooses to go on Operah that would be theirs to make.

2006014672    Sam Grair

Hmmmmmmmm.  186 hit straight in Kentucky last night from one of the violation numbers.  1186 combo will make a good pick 4 number.  118 have been hitting a lot lately or you can turn it over to 188.  2022 will make a good pick 4. 

It's got to be a reason this is shown.  There's a lot of good numbers on here.  I guess Sam Grair can't for deflamation of character if what is presented is "true".  Besides this is public record anyway.

Pulled from Ventura County Court Web Page

Is this the guy's record that tried to steal your lottery ticket, if so I would ask for no mercy.  He has had plenty of chances to go straight and clearly has chose a life of crime.  The longer he is off the street, the better.  He should never be employed in a place where he handles money.

NO NO NO.... These are the charges filed for stealing the lottery ticket.... He pled guilty to stealing personal property.... and presenting a fraudelent claim.... the other counts...186...1202 are sentence enhancement for the amount of the theft and claim

" I feel bad for the guy, this is the dumbest act I have ever heard of.  If he gets 5 1/2 years, hopefully he will be out in 1-2 years (likely, being a non-violent offender).  It will teach him a lesson and let everyone know this type of crime is unacceptable.  After all, isn't this grand, grand, grand larseny. "

Why isn't this grand larceny? Interesting that so many people are "feeling sorry" for a thief.  It's also puzzling that some members here don't think it's as serious as stealing a car. What if it were a check or cash? What's the difference?   People buy tickets for a lot of reasons, some just for fun. But in some cases, it would be stealing someone's dream, someone's hope.  Isn't that a crime? 

Maybe in CA $500,000 is not a lot of money, but even after taxes it would buy a nice home in many lovely areas. The reason the courts are looking at this as a serious offense is that a winning lottery ticket was stolen without any consideration of the buyer. The winner happens to be a successful business owner who probably wouldn't starve without the money. However, he could have just as well been someone who needed an operation or had a hungry family.  If they don't put a stop to this practice, then people will be afraid to buy tickets at local stores and check their numbers.

Personally, I would never check my numbers at a retail store, but many people do which promotes sales - not only of lottery tickets, but of merchandise. If you've ever worked in a store, you know that shoppers are impulse buyers and will get an item even if they just came into check their numbers.  Many times people use that trip to the store to buy or check a ticket to pickup a few groceries. However, this goes much deeper.  If lying about a winning ticket is considered a minor offense, the next person might steal some scratch tickets from under the counter. Crime has a domino effect and must be stopped. I am not judging this man, since I do not know him or the exact details of his crime, only what I read.

I just don't understand why the theft of a $500,000 lottery prize is any less offensive to people here than if someone mugged you and stole your wallet? Actually, it's a bit worse when it comes to the conscience of this thief. Sometimes we make mistakes.  A driver will accidentally take his eyes off the road and hit a pedestrian. When he decides not to take responsibility, it is called "hit & run" for a reason.  This clerk knew what he was doing and lied.  Okay, so he got excited and had bad judgment. We've all have bad judgment at one time or another. When I was a teenager I scraped a parked car as I was turning a corner.  I was so afraid my father would punish me and took off in a panic. I felt so terrible that I reported it and paid full restitution. This young man had a lot of time to realize what he did was wrong, even after he tried to claim the money. Had he admitted to his crime when he was being questioned by the Lottery or helped them to find the winner, I am certain his sentence would be lighter.  In fact, after reading the original newspaper articles which indicate that 19 years is the penalty, it looks as if he is getting a big break.

If this young man has no previous record, he won't serve his full sentence.  It was a stupid thing to do and prison certainly isn't the answer to everything, but I don't know where we should draw the line.  Someone steals a watch or grabs a woman's pocketbook in the street. We find out he's had a tough life and wanted the money to buy shoes for his little sister. Do we feel sorry for him?  Of course we should, but that means every time someone does something wrong, we now need to make exceptions for "living conditions" or "childhood upbringing" or "peer pressure" or maybe he was just have trouble with girls? What if this clerk was from a wealthy family and he drove a new Corvette?  Would it be reverse discrimination to say "he really didn't need the money which makes him a real thief, so his crime is even worse?" I know I've written too much here, but I still don't see the difference between someone purposely lying and stealing and that same person taking a diamond ring off of a jewelry counter. 

EDIT:  Just wanted to say that for some strange reason, I've been thinking the clerk we are talking about is a young man.  He is 42 years old, certainly old enough to know better!!  I guess all the posts about "feeling sorry" for the guy threw me and I just myself be brainwashed.

Also, something else is going on here.  I am trying not to be judgmental, but read the news article.  This man LIED IN COURT UNDER OATH!!  Not only did he plead not guilty on all counts, but he was BACK IN COURT (unless the paper is mistaken) and again LIED AFTER TAKING AN OATH IN A COURT OF LAW!!  Why is everyone saying this man is so innocent.  Just on that alone he is guilty of a serious offense.

http://www.thecamarilloacorn.com/news/2006/0630/Front_Page/004.html

Also - From the Ventura County Star: 

***The next day, Grair allegedly tried to cash Sehested's ticket at the Lottery Commission's office in Van Nuys, but couldn't answer all the standard questions asked of winners of six-figure prizes — including where and when he bought the ticket and whether the winning numbers were personally selected or quick picks.

Before Grair returned to the office for a second interview, lottery agent Jim Dumelle had reviewed a surveillance video from the liquor store that showed another man — later identified as Sehested — buying the ticket.

When confronted with the discrepancy, Dumelle said, Grair denied any fraud.

"He said, 'That's impossible. How could that be? I don't know what you're talking about. Goodbye,' " before walking out of the office. ***

Yes, you are correct.

My point was, with the correct investment tools, and as long as a person does not go overboard, one can live a long, long time on an average amount of income, you just have to decide what lifestyle you want: Do you want to be pompous and showy, or do you want to be quiet, reserved, frugal (ie: 'cheap'), etc. ? 

Guesser - You know what? I kind of do that right now. If there is something I want, I really try to think about buying it. I rent a small 1BR apartment so there is not much room for anything, so I'm careful about buying stuff such as furniture, wide screens etc. I work for an electronics company and we get discounts on big TV's but where is it going to go? I ask myself. I want to win a jackpot just so that I can prove that you can be happy with all that money! I'm glad this thread started because we never hear about the success stories or any good that the money does, we hear about the drugs, cheating, etc that went on BEFORE these people even won the money.

Feeling bad for the guy is all well and good, but that doesn't mean his misfortune isn't his own fault or that he shouldn't be held accountable. As far as a felony conviction haunting him for the rest of his life, I wouldn't count on it.   It can keep him from getting some jobs, and if he's in the minority of eligible voters who actually vote he'll have to give that up, but he'll also get to skip jury duty. For a lot of jobs it won't even come up or it won't matter, and if the guy was working as a store clerk it's probably a safe bet that his next job wasn't going to be middle management  at a Fortune 500 company.

As far as an appropriate penalty, I certainly agree that violent crimes deserve more punishment, but sometimes the real difference between a violent crime and a non-violent crime is whether or not somebody witnesses or tries to stop the crime. This guy tried to steal 500 grand. How long do you suppose he would voluntarily suffer to make that much money? I'm not desperate enough to go to jail in exchange for 100 grand a year, but I've got no problem looking at that as an arbitrary figure in decidinga reasonable jail sentence.

After all, isn't this grand, grand, grand larseny. "  Tony

Why isn't this grand larceny? Interesting that so many  (me)

Tony,  I  apologize - I apparently transposed your words. So I was really agreeing with you! At my age maybe I should read posts out loud!  LOL     I should have actually written most of that on a blog, since the subject here was the tv show, not the theft.  I just went a little nuts because I've been cheated & lost a lot of money, so I think it's a lot worse when the crook actually looks into your eyes and lies. At least in this case, he never collected the money. Some people (like investment brokers, for example) change your lives forever. Lying is lying. Doesn't matter if it's a lottery ticket, a car repair or an insurance policy.

How's this for comparison:

Andrew Fastow - the former Enron CFO - helped bilk BILLIONS of dollars from people, robbed people of their retirements, robbed people of their stock holdings, put thousands of people out of work - and made millions himself - got sentenced to 6 years in prison yesterday. 

Bob21456 - where did you go ?