Indiana store clerk in trouble for buying lottery ticket

Oct 31, 2014, 11:44 pm (8 comments)

Indiana Lottery

WINCHESTER, Ind. — Four months after buying a Hoosier Lottery scratch-off ticket that won him $900, a Winchester, Indiana, man's luck appears to have run out.

Authorities say Mickey L. Stone, 36, 501 E. Fourth St., violated state law by buying that winning ticket at the Winchester liquor store where he was employed.

Stone was charged this week with unlawful purchase of a lottery ticket by an employee, a misdemeanor carrying a maximum one-year jail term.

According to a report filed by Michael Bare, an investigator for the Hoosier Lottery, Stone bought the Diamond Mine scratch-off ticket at Hughes Pic-A-Pac, 226 W. Washington St., on June 6. At the time, Stone had worked at the store for about a year, the report said.

The winning ticket was redeemed at Hoosier Lottery's headquarters in downtown Indianapolis on June 24.

Interviewed by Bare at the liquor store in late July, Stone at first maintained he had bought the winning ticket in Huntington.

"I reminded Stone that, when the lottery ships tickets to one of its 4,400 retailers, they are in an inactive or inert state," Bare wrote. "In order for tickets to be recognized by the computer system, they must be activated. This can only be done at the lottery terminal in the store to which the lottery tickets were sold by the lottery."
Stone eventually admitted that he "purchased the ticket at his place of employment," the investigator wrote, and "verified that he knew that it was illegal to have done so."

The Hoosier Lottery investigator told Stone that returning his winnings "might influence" a decision on whether a criminal charge was filed.

"Stone suggested that he might make payments to the lottery, but I declined that idea," he added.

Stone was not arrested this week after the charge was filed against him, in Randolph Superior Court, by Prosecutor David Daly's office. The Winchester man will receive notice of an initial hearing in the case set for Nov. 12.

In 2010, Stone was convicted of impersonating of a public servant, also in Randolph Superior Court.

Authorities said he left a voice-mail message for his sister-in-law, purporting to be a Winchester police officer and warning the Idaho woman she would be arrested if she continued to call Stone or his wife.

Star Press

Comments

maringoman's avatarmaringoman

Authorities say Mickey L. Stone, 36, 501 E. Fourth St., violated state law by buying that winning ticket at the Winchester liquor store where he was employed.

 like this rule. 

dr65's avatardr65

I wish they would do this to all clerks in all states. They shouldn't be allowed to play.

On the claim form for PA it asks: Are you related to anyone who works for the PA Lottery? We as
claimants have to disclose that piece of info and if it turned out we were related, that would raise
the suspicion bar 10 feet. Why isn't a bar in place for the clerks who sell the tickets, pay out the
winnings, scan the codes and have access to all tickets - losers and unscratched - and keep track
of the poor sucker who bought 10 and lost just to slide in there and buy the next few and probably
snag a good one?

Doesn't the lottery realize that's a conflict of interest? Clerks should only be able to sell and not play
at the counter they're working at. It's unfair.

Cheers to Indiana for doing the right thing!

sully16's avatarsully16

wtg Indiana!

HaveABall's avatarHaveABall

Wow, this was a bad decision by a probably low paid yet seasoned employee.  However, I hope he just gets fined, doesn't lose a mainly good work reference (perhaps not all employers in Indiana will recognize his name), is able to obtain a different higher paying job, might be able to move to a different state, and is able to stop focusing this bad decision soon.

Bang Head

faber98

if he knew it was against the law, which it should be, why didn't he get someone else to cash the ticket. how rock stupid can a human being be to try to cash it himself. also think employee termination should be penaly here not jail time.

helpmewin's avatarhelpmewin

What's newGreen laugh

Pavchik

All this for $900 - they wasted more money on resources , investigation and court fees and the time factor of course ..... So what he worked in the store ....ITS A SCRATCH OFF TICKET - NO WAY OF KNOWING ITS A WINNING TICKET UNTIL SCRATCHED - please explain how that's a conflict of interest ??? And to even think about sending him to JAIL for 1YR - WOW i see Indiana is really making progress ..... then again in Winchester , Indiana something like this is Headlines i see ... Criminal Charge huh .... population of about 5,000 i'm curious what the charge is for jaywalking - Felony w/ 3yrs sentence lol get real Indiana.

SkyLine69

Ok, please explain WHY a store clerk can't buy a lotto ticket. What advantages do they have over anyone else. When the LC offered me a job it states in their employment contract that you nor ANY family member can play but WHY. It's not like they work inside the programmers rooms or the manufacturing facility

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