Florida men charged with lottery ticket theft

Nov 24, 2008, 9:28 am (13 comments)

Florida Lottery

Two Jacksonville men are facing felony charges over a stolen lottery ticket that was redeemed for $20,000, according to a police report.

Kenneth R. Hayes, 55, and James C. Picray, 47, were charged Friday with dealing in stolen property, according to police records. Picray was also charged with grand theft, according to the records.

An arrest report said several books of lottery tickets were stolen since last month from the Kangaroo Express store at 5700 Philips Highway.

The report said Hayes cashed a winning ticket worth $20,000 at the Lottery district office in Jacksonville this month while a surveillance camera recorded Picray waiting in the office lobby. The report said $2,700 worth of stolen tickets had been recovered.

Picray was released Saturday after posting $10,003 bond. Hayes was released on $5,003 bond.

Hayes declined to comment, and a message left with a woman at Picray's home wasn't returned.

Lottery Post Staff

Comments

GamerMom's avatarGamerMom

How smart do you have to be to steal tickets and then go to the DISTRICT OFFICE YOURSELF and claim a ticket?!

 

I wonder what will happen to the tickets he stole; will they be reprinted?

ThatScaryChick's avatarThatScaryChick

Quote: Originally posted by GamerMom on Nov 24, 2008

How smart do you have to be to steal tickets and then go to the DISTRICT OFFICE YOURSELF and claim a ticket?!

 

I wonder what will happen to the tickets he stole; will they be reprinted?

I don't think it would have mattered who cashed the tickets. I think the police knew the tickets had been stolen. My guess is, if the thieves had gotten an innocent bystander to cash the ticket, that that person would have been charged as well.

GamerMom's avatarGamerMom

this is true.  He should have known the tickets were numbered anyway.  if he cashed in anything over $500 he was asking to be arrested by going to district

JordanT1021's avatarJordanT1021

let's say after the man stole the tickets, he threw them in the trash.. I walk by and see them in the trash sometime after... i scratch them off and then see that I won. when i go to the lottery office I get arrested. how believeable would it be that I found them in the trash?

diamondpalace's avatardiamondpalace

Don't play with fire.

MaddMike51

I just love reading about stupid thieves.It starts my day off with a laugh!

Todd's avatarTodd

Quote: Originally posted by MaddMike51 on Nov 24, 2008

I just love reading about stupid thieves.It starts my day off with a laugh!

Yeah, makes us all feel smarter. Crazy LOL

charmed7's avatarcharmed7

i found some tickets on the ground yesterday, with 215. they were for

the evening drawing.  WOW, how scary, I'm glad they were not stolen

sad that 804 fell instead 215.

LckyLary

Picray is an anagram of "Piracy"... sometimes I find discard tickets worth up to 10 or 15 dollars. If I find one worth 20K I would turn it in under condition that if no one claims it and it's genuinely lost then it's mine. At least I'd be in the News and probably mentioned on here. It would mean more to me to see its rightful owner get it back and the joy it would bring to their life. (no I don't believe in just giving everyone 20K because that's not quite the same thing.)

I once found a Mega ticket for a future drawing that I turned in, it won $7 but I don't know who got it.

myzeus's avatarmyzeus

With the way the economy is now, times are tough. Some people are just going nuts. What is this world coming to? I don't like theives at all.

jusus27360

not bright at all!

luckieStarr's avatarluckieStarr

It's a shame that someone missed out on buying a $20,000 winning ticket.  I would like to know if they stolen a unopened pack of tickets.  I have seen people buy $100 worth of scatch offs...maybe volume has its own reward.  Not stealing tickets.

wizeguy's avatarwizeguy

Odd amounts for bail... wonder if they can cough up the extra $3

End of comments
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