Connecticut Lottery: Lottery ticket theft wins larceny count
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A nurse's aide faces a larceny charge after she allegedly stole a winning $3,125 lottery ticket from an elderly town woman who cares for physically and mentally handicapped children in her home.
Monica Blackwell-Simms, 38, of Newfield Avenue, Bridgeport, is charged with third-degree larceny following her arrest Wednesday by state authorities.
Blackwell-Simms worked for the Stratford-based Family Care Visiting Nurse & Home Care Agency at the time, said Kevin McGuire, an investigator with the state's Special Revenues Division.
A woman answering the phone at the nursing agency didn't recognize her. A telephone number listed for the suspect was out of service.
McGuire said the aide helped the woman care for the children.
The woman always played the number 1000 in the Play 4 game and hit the jackpot earlier this year, he said.
But she couldn't find the winning ticket and she and the aide scoured the home looking for it. The woman never found it, but it was later cashed, according to McGuire.
She reported the incident and investigators identified Blackwell-Simms as the person who cashed it, he said.
At first, the aide denied it, but later confessed and was cooperative, he said.
McGuire said the suspect, under questioning, couldn't recall where she bought the winning ticket.
But the elderly woman had "stacks and stacks of previous tickets playing the same number," he said.
Blackwell-Simms reportedly told McGuire she felt guilty.
She was upset the woman didn't buy her any tickets, according to the investigator. None of the winnings were recovered, he added.
Blackwell-Simms is free on bond for an appearance Oct. 7 in Bridgeport Superior Court.