Prize money awarded to rightful lottery ticket holder

Nov 23, 2011, 9:01 am (23 comments)

Powerball

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Lottery on Tuesday presented a $200,000 Powerball prize to a Sumner County man whose winning ticket was allegedly stolen by two convenience store clerks earlier this year.

The clerks were arrested and their case is pending in the Sumner County court system.

"I am so thankful for the work that has gone into getting this prize to me," said Roy Chase, a retired employee of the Ford Glass Plant. "This is a blessing for me and my family."

Police said Chase took the winning Powerball ticket to the Xpress Mart on North Broadway in Portland on June 3 to see if he had matched any of the numbers drawn two days prior.

When clerk Kanubhai Bhatt scanned the ticket, he told Chase the ticket was not a winner, according to police records.

On August 29, Piyushkumar Patel, Bhatt's son-in-law, tried to cash the ticket at the Lottery's headquarters in Nashville.

At that time, lottery officials conducted investigation and discovered what had happened.

Bhatt and Patel were arrested and charged with felony theft over $60,000.

"We have a number of safeguards in place to protect our players and maintain the integrity of the Lottery," Rebecca Hargrove, President and CEO of the Tennessee Lottery said in a release. "In this instance our process revealed irregularities and our security team investigated accordingly. Today we are thrilled to pay the rightful owner of the winning ticket his prize."

Bhatt and Patel are scheduled to appear in a Sumner County courtroom next month.

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News story photo(Click to display in gallery)

Thanks to Helen for the tip.

WKRN

Comments

joshuacloak's avatarjoshuacloak

glad to see my state lottery can do their job right in 1 regard at least.

clerks trying to scam people out their wins, is very real threat.

but bigger threat, is idiots who can't check their own tickets or do any thing for them self's, and have blind trust in others they don't know.

also the lottery really just needs to make sure their self check machines in ever store where tickets are sold, with great signage, and with plz don't waste clerks time for losers, check them your self here, etc signage.

 

just glad these 2 moron crooks will more then likly spending some time in jail thro!

i hate these scum bags low life types.

 

 

"We have a number of safeguards in place to protect our players and maintain the integrity of the Lottery," Rebecca Hargrove, President and CEO of the Tennessee Lottery said in a release. "In this instance our process revealed irregularities and our security team investigated accordingly. Today we are thrilled to pay the rightful owner of the winning ticket his prize."

 

thro i have to say, am more shocked at how dumb the crooks are.  in a state where trusts and a lawyer can claim for you

they could of i think got the money and ran with it by a lawyer doing it for them, lottery does not know who trying to claim, lawyer playing dumb,  they can't do much investigations

 

and am betting the irregularitie was this: where did you buy your ticket?   what time? etc

ofc if they got that wrong, anyone worth their salt working for security team would investigate it hell of lot,   they asked them more questions and got more bs, they looked at times the ticket was scanned more then likly, , reviewed the store video's and lookie here, its clerk trying to pull a fast one on us............

 

no need for a lawyer, they didn't take that route, greed  got the crooks. screw the cost of a lawyer= them in jail anyway, and irony being they must likly  Have a lawyer to defend them now in court anyway rofl

TheRightPrice

Scared Check Your Own Tickets Folks!

The Elderly Are The Most At Risk

Lots of Elderly Folk don't like to use Internet

And the Elderly are Least Likely to Use Self Scanners.

psykomo's avatarpsykomo

PartyCongrats ROY>>>>>>>>>>>>>$200,000 White Bounce

LET PSYKO check UR ticket for FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PSYKO will be appearing at UR local 711 S@@N!!  Drum

ThudJack-in-the-BoxThud                      HAPPY Turkey THANKSGIVING


tiggs95's avatartiggs95

The Patels strike again..Way to go Tenn lottery your the best...:)

PERDUE

On August 29, Piyushkumar Patel, Bhatt's son-in-law, tried to cash the ticket at the Lottery's headquarters in Nashville.

At that time, lottery officials conducted investigation and discovered what had happened.

Bhatt and Patel were arrested and charged with felony theft over $60,000.

"We have a number of safeguards in place to protect our players and maintain the integrity of the Lottery," Rebecca Hargrove, President and CEO of the Tennessee Lottery said in a release. "In this instance our process revealed irregularities and our security team investigated accordingly. Today we are thrilled to pay the rightful owner of the winning ticket his prize."

 

I love that TN does an investigation before cashing in large tickets.  Thumbs Up

Will never understand why people don't check their own tickets.  Bang Head

Will never unstand why people don't sign their ticket in ink before handing them over. Bang Head

Lazy.

Just plain lazy.

Well, glad Mr. Roy Chase received his winning jackpot.  Party

That's the way it should be done.

surimaribo24's avatarsurimaribo24

before i read the whole story i knew a patel is definitly involved and this time with the extended family ...

im glad the real winner got his winning great work tenesee . RIDGE will be verry proud .

sully16's avatarsully16

Congrats to the winner, glad to see justice was served.

Patel ??? again, really?

dpoly1's avatardpoly1

Since just about everything else in life is regulated by the idiots that attempt to run our Government ............. it is high time for Patel Control ............. no one really needs a Patel !!!!!!!

Yes Nod

LottoGuyBC's avatarLottoGuyBC

Rightful owner gets his cash Cheers

TheOtherOne's avatarTheOtherOne

Quote: Originally posted by surimaribo24 on Nov 23, 2011

before i read the whole story i knew a patel is definitly involved and this time with the extended family ...

im glad the real winner got his winning great work tenesee . RIDGE will be verry proud .

Has this guy done something before, or are you guys referring to the name Patel in general?

I'm actually glad they didn't reveal HOW they caught this fool. More people will be caught if they try this as well.

But if Patel had signed the ticket I wonder if they would've caught him? "bearer instrument" right?

CashWinner$

Congrats 2 the 'real' Winner ..... Smiley

It sure does take a special kinda a-hole 2 steal someone's ticket ...

Unfortunately, probs happens more than we know..

Kudos to the investigators!!

............................

+ Have A Happy Thanksgiving Everyone +

Slick Nick's avatarSlick Nick

It's nice to see justice done. I despise greed and thieves.Rant

rdgrnr's avatarrdgrnr

Investigate schminvestigate, this was a gimme.

And the Tennessee Lottery will milk it and ride it forever now, like they finally did something.

They caught this one because the guy cashing it in was named Pushcart Patel, which automatically tells you he has a connection to a convenience store. If he wasn't named Patel he'd be back in Punjab living like a Maharajah with Mr Chase's money. Just like a lot of them are, no doubt.

The fact is that these crooks probably get away with this crap everyday and the Tennessee Lottery really doesn't give a flying fling on a rat's ass. I know, I've called them before to report crooks and they don't even want to know where it happened. They just tell you to be careful.

I've had these slime bags try to rip me off on several occasions so I know they must be getting away with it with people who aren't paying attention all the time or who trust these crooks to check their tickets.

I play month-long multi-draws so one of their favorite scams with me is not giving me all the winnings on a ticket if there's more than one or two. They like to keep one or two small wins for themselves. Then they play dumb when I call them on it.

Another scam is when I cash in a win before the multi-draw ticket is expired. They like to give me the winnings and then "accidentally" throw the exchange ticket in the garbage for later retrieval. This has been tried on me in both Tennessee and Virginia. One guy has done this to me twice and is on notice that the third time he will be spitting out teeth.

I'm embarrassed to say I did get ripped off in Kentucky by one of these pukes. Actually, it was my wife, I sent her in to get a raffle ticket in a gas station in Harlan and forgot to tell her that you get a form to fill out with the ticket for a chance at another $1,000. Well, the lady who sold her the ticket evidently kept the form for herself cuz she didn't give it to my wife. And it wasn't even a Patel, it was a hillbilly broad, LOL! Wonder if she won my $1,000?

I hope they put those two bastages (Pushcart and Carnauba) in jail for 25 years, I'm sick of dealing with crooks and hearing about crooks ripping off decent people all the time.

TnTicketlosers's avatarTnTicketlosers

Well right again RIDGE you are,you need to be our State CEO .You be good and straight up and then we would have good Lottery.Right here in Murfreesboro at a certain store when people scratch off the (certain ones)watch and keep up with the winners and then they play right there at the counter.(the workers from ?)They watch people play till they lose all their money,then when you leave the store they start to play what you have been losing on.....Thats why we cant never win anything.I go to Kentucky exit 2 them girls are straight up there.They are happy when you win.Have a good Thankgiving Ridge.

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