RICHLAND COUNTY, S.C. — A former employee of the South Carolina Education Lottery has been indicted by a Richland County grand jury on charges he embezzled more than $200,000 from the lottery, according to Attorney General Alan Wilson.
Specifically, Anthony J. McNeil, 55, was indicted on one count of embezzlement of public funds over $10,000. It is a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine.
The indictment alleges that between April 2010 and August 2012, McNeil — while working in the lottery's finance division — concocted a scheme involving overcharges, bank account sweeps and redirecting of certain funds.
A warrant in the case says that McNeil — who was in charge of collecting money from retailers — tweaked the agency's computer system to not charge some ticket retailers while overcharging others. He would then call the retailers who weren't charged and tell them to deposit payments into an account he controlled.
All of these mechanisms resulted in McNeil's getting the money and the discrepancy not appearing in the Lottery's overall numbers, the warrant alleges.
After McNeil's arrest last fall, lottery director Paul Harper Bethea said the money involved was on the financial side of the operation and did not involve the games.
McNeil was fired Oct. 10 after lottery officials discovered accounting discrepancies and the investigation was turned over to SLED.
In all, some $226,439 was stolen, according to a SLED affidavit.
The Attorney General is handling the case because the lottery commission is a state agency.
wow
I'm always dreaming up schemes to make some money. I sometimes spend hours scanning data, crunching
figures, moving information and then I go and move some money from one place to the other....bank, ATM to
lottery terminal or IVM.
Difference is that it's my own money I'm playing around with, not someone else's.
The greed just never ends, Keep us posted on this one, would like to see how this plays out.
What the he**! How did he get away with this for two years
$226,439 that's a lot of money hope SCEL is able to recoup some of the money back.
exactly, and you know someone had to know something, I think there may be a little helper.
Well.......the truth is he wasn't a bank......and therefore he did not have a "license" to steal........
....beaudad !!!
My trust in state lottery employees has now been completely restored!
I always assumed they were were embezzling at least three times that amount.
Just in the last two days over $104 million was wagered on MM and PB so it would be difficult to notice a few thousand missing. With 43 states selling tickets each with thousands of retailers, I'll the total amount swindled each year is probably staggering. And that's not counting the money some of the players are cheated out of.
Working in lottery finance allowed McNeil to be creative and steal more, but I'll bet there are many store clerks who combined make McNeil's theft a drop in the bucket.
He should of tried the "My Bad" technique. Sometimes it works.
Right, employer-abuser, private mobster Anthony J. McNeil probably stole more and isn't going to reveal (he figures they aren't the swiftest of auditing companies; since it took over two years to fire Anthony).
I wonder how much of the stolen monies that the auditors have thus far tallied missing, remain in Anthony's bank account?
I hope that Anthony J. McNeil doesn't get sent to prison, since it costs the few people who pay SC Income Taxes, aggregately, $37K annually per prisoner! Instead, I hope they put Anthony in a 1/2 costing half-way house, AND in turn require that he work full-time [in a skilled position, heavily audited] until every penny stolen, interest, room, food, clothing, etc. is repaid (about 7 years ... more years added if more monies is discovered to have been stolen by him after further more in depth audits are performed by the SC Lottery Headquarters)!
Wow
I hope they will punish him really really good so that he will learn. We need to be careful with this kind of person.