SYRACUSE, N.Y. — An Onondaga County Court judge who dismissed attempted grand larceny charges against two brothers accused of stealing a winning $5 million lottery ticket in 2006 ruled the crime was beyond the statute of limitations.
Judge Joseph Fahey upheld other charges brought against Andy Ashkar, 34, and Nayel Ashkar, 36, who are accused of taking a scratch-off lottery ticket from a customer at their father's convenience store on Oct. 27, 2006.
Prosecutors contended that because the brothers waited to claim the winnings until March of last year, the five year statute of limitations had not expired. Andy Ashkar is accused of taking the ticket from Robert Miles at The Green Ale Market on East Fayette Street in Syracuse. He allegedly told Miles he'd won $5,000 and then gave him $4,000, taking a $1,000 fee for the store.
Six years later, on March 1, 2012, the Ashkar brothers took the ticket to the lottery office to claim the $5 million.
Defense attorneys for the brothers filed motions to have all the charges against their clients dropped.
Fahey wrote that the evidence presented to a grand jury established that the theft occurred in 2006 but would have needed to be prosecuted within five years.
He said it appeared that "the People concocted their theory of prosecution for the crime of Attempted Grand Larceny in the First Degree allegedly committed on March 1, 2012 as a means to circumvent the statute of limitations issue presented under the facts of this case.
"Creative as it may be, it is nevertheless unsupported by law," Fahey concluded.
The judge upheld the rest of the indictment, which included fourth-degree conspiracy charges against the pair. Andy Ashkar is additionally charged with criminal possession of stolen property in the first degree, a Class B felony.
The B felony Andy Ashkar faces calls for a minimum sentence of 1 to 3 years in prison and a maximum of 8 1/3 to 25 years if convicted.
The conspiracy charge is a Class E felony, which carries a maximum sentence of 1 1/3 to four years in prison. The minimum is conditional discharge or probation. The brothers' father, Nayef Ashkar, was indicted by a grand jury on conspiracy charges in May. His trial is scheduled for Sept. 9.
The brothers' trial begins next week.
It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out in court, I hope the jury does the right thing, I also have to wonder what evidence will be excluded from testimony.
So let me make sure I have this correct. It's the District Attorney who is attempting to circumvent the statue by establishing that this criminal activity continued into 2011 and not the two brothers who as a part of their criminal conspiracy deliberately waited it out until that so called statue expired to cash in a ticket they stole.
i hope they get the max term and no cash.
I hope they are convicted what's the old saying "if you do the crime you do the time".
I hope the real winner gets the money. $5 million is a lot to lose. It is odd that these two brothers waited on the ticket for over 5 years. Maybe, they thought that they could get the winnings legally then and not be challenged.
If the crack-head accepted $4000. in cash, I think he gave up his right to the ticket.
and that makes it okay? i hope they get nibbled to death by geese.
What's also crazy is that NY has that $500,000,000 Extravaganza scratch-off game that ran for 5 years, alowing for someone to claim a win 6 years later, a year after the end date.
Our scratch games in CA only run around a year or less, and then you have 180 days to claim after end date.
That long time between purchase and claim just screams fraud. Like that Hot Lotto incident a while back claimed by the lawyer hours before deadline.
If they wait that long, there's something wrong.
Didnt see anything about this, but has the real winner got any of his cash yet?
i don't know what to think
lol I like these crime rhymes!!
"if you do the crime, you do the time"
"If they wait that long, there's something wrong."
if the glove don't fit you must a quit!! oj simpson trial
"If they wait that long, there's something wrong."
Yeah, I just made that one up, glad you liked it!
... yet the $5M (or whatever remains after already paid Fed and State Income Taxes, court fees, lawyer fees, $4K already paid, etc.) shouldn't go to these cruelly scheming brother's heirs, it should go to the original ticket holder.
Yes, I think he did get his money.