RD's Deli and Market in Melrose, Massachusetts, will no longer be selling lottery tickets now that its owner has been accused of trying to scam a mentally disabled woman out of her winnings.
The woman bought a winning ticket worth $10,000 at the convenience store, but when she went to redeem it, the store's owner allegedly told her that the prize was only $1,000, and gave her $950 in cash.
Separate from the attempt to scam the woman, handing out that much cash is, in itself, a violation, as prizes over $600 must be claimed at one of six regional lottery office locations.
Finding it fishy, the woman told a family member about the interaction; the relative then got in touch with the Massachusetts State Lottery and provided identifying details about the ticket. Lottery officials were able to confirm that it had been sold at RD'S Deli and Market, and questioned the owner, who they say admitted to taking the ticket.
Luckily, he hadn't redeemed it yet.
The ticket was then returned to the woman, who claimed the prize on December 16.
Following a hearing at lottery headquarters on Dec. 11, the store's lottery license has been "indefinitely suspended," though lottery officials are looking to permanently terminate it.
Melrose Police and Massachusetts State Police are assisting in the investigation.
I like to think there's an extra-warm corner of Hell for those who prey upon folks like this woman, as well as those who take advantage of the elderly.
i hope there's a fair copy of hell on earth here for the evil git, before he ever tries the immortal one.
I'm glad this woman got her money back and hopefully this jerk gets his license permanently revoked and some jail time.
This greedy SOB. I bet what gave it away was telling her she won $1,000 but only giving her $950.
This may not be his first rodeo. A year in jail and $10k restitution, sounds just fine to me.
Since the article does not name of the owner who did the deed, l could not help thinking of a name we all familiar with...yeah that one : Patel.
A scam is bad enough . To scan a mentally disabled person is real low! This is plain & simple greed. Put these people in the Hall of shame, next to family who name start with a {P} which cheated players.
It was the owner that scammed her and his name is Chang Cho....
I agree, jail time for sure.
wow....racist much?????
I agree. Scammers are one thing, but taking advantage of someone like this is horrendous.
said in the article that State is considering taking lottery sales away permanent....THINKING,WHATS WRONG WITH YOU??????this should be a NO BRAINER!!! TAKE his license,take him to court and fine him and maybe jail or at least probation and put this on his record for life.People that use this store should stop going there and let him suffer and maybe lose his store.Other then that maybe bring back PUBLIC STONING to be held at Shafer Stadium on Sundays admition $5.00 plus (3) stones $5.00 all proceeds to go to helping disadvatanged children.
My only question is why is termination even a question. This guy violated about a half a dozen vendor rules and some laws. Forget suspension. This isn't even a he said/she said dispute. He admitted to scamming a mentally challenged woman. There is no argument he can bring to justify his actions except pure greed. He shouldn't be ever trusted with a license again. Next!
That would never be me because I check my own tickets and I sign the back of any winners in ink. Sometimes I feel like people just want to be taken advantage of. Personal responsibility is my thing
What goes around comes around,,,but those that dont have a heart dont care anyway...People just dont fear the here after.
Good to read that the winner was able to collect her winnings before it was cashed by the dishonest retailer.
Just cringe when folks hand their tickets to the retailer to have them check their tickets. See this often,even though N.J. has scanners for players to check their own tickets. Of course this situation was unique because the woman was disabled. Bad karma for this unscrupulous retailer.
l had no idea you were a Patel or related to one- my apologies.It was not a blanket Statement, but an opinion.
If you took the time to " research" some of the convenience store owners who have ripped people off in the recent past that name at times comes up.Now you educated, now you know.
Lets just stop with this " racist Bulls@#$%# comment shall we?
Huh, I wonder if this woman gave this $950 to the local police department when she presented the theft complaint.
I have to be a Patel or related to one to call you out on being a racist? I don't think so. The article talked about a store owner ripping someone off and you automatically assume it was someone from the East Indian community, news flash, you are a racist.
First Off: You are not the voice of reason here..
You called me a racist, which l know l clearly am not- l call you an idiot which l know you clearly are.l did not pull the name " Patel" out of a hat. Todd has on numerous occasions posted articles where people have violated the lottery commission rules. Thing is, he did not make up those names either, all you have to do is read the articles posted.
l asked you to do a research on the names- and it seems you did not. Well guess what, l did your homework for you. Listen up genius.
In Ohio; 2010 in a City called Ravenne, a certain Sadhuram Patel was charged with pocketing people money after telling them that they did not have a " winning ticket".
In Dunn NC; A woman won nearly $88,000 but when she went to check her ticket...a certain Sureshba Patel told her that she wasn't a winner and kept the ticket for himself. He was arrested and charged with felony larceny and attempting to obtain property by false pretenses
Oh My..Ketan and Chirag Patel had big plans to cash in on Florida Lottery tickets — but they weren't hoping for Lady Luck to work in their favor, deputies said.
Both men were arrested on extortion charges.
After Ketan Patel found out that an employee at his wife's convenience store was responsible for stealing about $5,000 in lottery tickets, instead of reporting the man to authorities, Ketan Patel threatened to have the man and his sister deported if he didn't hand over nearly $250,000, deputies said.
If any of the above individuals had names such as Smith, Jackson or Jenkins- l would have mentioned them - but the " Patels" rise to the top like cream.
Lets not even discuss a certain Orlando Hotelier Nik Patel who was arrested in a $159 mil Fed Fraud in loans he sold through his company..
** you really ought to pick your battles more wisely.. now run along and play.
that is a very small segment of the East Indian community. If there was an article about how someone got mugged and I jumped to the conclusion that the mugger is most likely named Tyrone or Jamal, then that would make me a racist against African Americans.
If there was an article about someone getting arrested for sneaking across the border and I jumped to the conclusion that the person's name must be Martinez, that would make me a racist against Latinos.
In this case, the article is about a store owner who ripped someone off and you immediately jump to the conclusion that the perpetrator was East Indian based on a small sample size. You are a racist. You need to stop spreading stereotypes. It's 2014 not 1950.
You such a freaking hypocrite- coming in here like you pure as the driven snow.Clearly you trying a win an argument without merit. What the F does crossing the border got to do with folks who are scamming innocent people of their money? Your attempting to take this topic in a direction that clearly incites taking sides. I think you are a Patel or of the Indian community which is why you being so militant about me naming these folk! I told you before- you are not the voice of reason here, you not walking with Angels here. I detest hypocrisy.
BTW- l think you dead from the neck up because instead of leaving things be, you want to prove your point , you have just as much faults as the next person, so stop being a self righteous twit.
The owner of RD's Deli by quick google search is Chang Cho. LMAO..close enough to Patel IMO.
I give the guy an A for effort for trying to scam the potato....lol
I'm not a Patel or part of the Indian community. I don't need to be. My race or ethnicity doesn't matter in order to call someone out on spreading stereotypes.
What the F does crossing the border got to do with folks who are scamming innocent people of their money?
You missed my point and I made it clear as day. The article talks about a store owner scamming someone and you bring up a stereotype about Patel, a common Indian surname. Then I bring up an example of someone getting arrested for crossing the border and I, in order to illustrate my point, use a stereotype and say the person who crossed the border must have been named, Martinez, a common Latino surname. You see how wrong it is to jump to such a conclusion when all sorts of people of different ethnicity enter the US illegally. Stereotypes are de-humanizing generalizations. People need to be judged on a case by case basis based on their actions.
"Dateline" did a similar story here in California five years ago of undercover "winners" hired by the California Lottery attempting to bypass the filing process and redeeming their $1,000 winners for $650 or something like that to avoid having the taxes or other back payments taken out. The clerks and stores that short-changed the claimants had their lottery licenses revoked. But taking advantage of a mentally disabled woman? Tsk, tsk.
Your original and subsequent posts show a high level of prejudice and an unwillingness to humble yourself and be empathetic toward others. One might suggest that you reread your posts in earnest... Name calling does not strengthen your very vile and prejudice views, nor does it aid in the enlightenment you seek to impart. Name calling furthers others views that you are insensitive, privileged, entitled and prejudice. You feel that you are entitled to your prejudice views, and so privileged that you believe OTHERS should do the "research" that supposedly qualifies your argument. You are wrong. Do some soul searching and try again, because right now you are failing at life.
Thank you for your input Rip van Winkle.- 3 posts in 4 years? Go back to sleep.Please!
PrinceRene, and others,
There's nothing racist about Patel comments. Instead of jumping to conclusions, accusing others, and getting on the pc bandwagon just use the Search feature on top of the page and do a search for Patel.
See what you find.
I've read the articles. Yes, there are dishonest East Indians just like there are dishonest whites, blacks, asians and hispanics. Taking these cases where East Indian store owners have ripped people off and playing them up for laughs paints a broad and unflattering brush over an entire community. For every East Indian store owner who has ripped someone off, how many other store owners of different ethnicities have ripped people off too but we never hear any jokes about them do we?
Good grief, The story here was about scamming store owners and it has turned into name calling again. Noise gate backed up his point and a couple of you people start calling racist, what a crock. Have you nothing better to do? GIVE IT A REST ALREADY.
and what would Noise gate's point be? He thought the store owner's name was Patel and guess what? As a few other posters have already pointed out, the store owner was NOT named Patel. So much for stereotypes.....
he'll eventually get jail or probation time.
This is one of the reasons why I like subscriptions. Apart from the convenience, it is very secure. Small prizes are credited to the subscription account, for larger prizes a check is mailed to subscriber. And, for those luck enough to win big prize or jackpot, the lottery will contact the subscriber.
sounds good. They should have that here. I'm guessing the lottery brain trust were too busy bringing us Monopoly Millionaire Club.
There is no telling how low this scum can go, he's still digging.
lol!!!!!
Noise Gate just let it go. It's not cool to stereotype. We all do it from time to time but when called out about it, the correct response is to say "yeah, I'm wrong on this one" and life goes on.
I took issue with being called a racist.If l was l could simply have said " Yeah, whatever". Since you mentioned the fact that we ALL guilty of stereotyping people from time to time however" attempting to cast the first stone" when others do it is hypocritical.That's the point l was attempting to make, but it goes over some heads.
So you're saying your point is so complex it's going over my head? Nice try of deflecting but that doesn't work on me.
Do you still stand by your statement, "Since the article does not name of the owner who did the deed, l could not help thinking of a name we all familiar with...yeah that one : Patel."?
A quick google search reveals everything we need to know about the situation:
Rd's Delicatessen & Market
463 Franklin St
Melrose, MA 02176
Phone: (781) 662-7412
Chang Cho, Owner
source:
http://www.manta.com/c/mm07qwz/rd-s-delicatessen-market?ftoggle-frontend-prod-on=abTests.revenue.responsive_12162014_a&utm_expid=82789632-30.8Ue3RXoXRoWAwC0cgSs_wg.2&utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3D%26esrc%3Ds%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D1%26ved%3D0CCAQFjAA%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.manta.com%252Fc%252Fmm07qwz%252Frd-s-delicatessen-market%26ei%3D3ryXVLb1HJbroASs_YKgBw%26usg%3DAFQjCNGoNvnrnuuXkYDzRFry_dvphY-vNw%26sig2%3D_4DM453T9ezdhVzGcQpm5g%26bvm%3Dbv.82001339%2Cd.cGU
So let me summarize what has happened in this thread so far.
An article is posted about the dishonest store owner of Rd's Delicatessen & Market in Melrose, Massachusetts ripping off one of their customers.
Based on past news articles of store owners who happen to have the East Indian surname of Patel, you erroneously jump to the hasty conclusion that in this particular case, the perpetrator must also be named Patel because if Patels have ripped people off in the past, in your mind there must be some necessary connection between Patel and store owner ripping people off.
But as you can see you are wrong. The store owner is not named Patel. There is no necessary connection between Patel and store owner ripping people off. It was all in your prejudiced mind and instead of owning up to it and promising not to stereotype people in the future, you just dig the hole that much deeper.
Yes, I understand there are articles here on Lottery Post of store owners with the surname of Patel ripping off their customers but the horrible practice of ripping off customers is not limited to East Indian store owners. You do understand any store owner, black, white, asian, hispanic, etc, may have the potential to be dishonest and yet the article is posted and where does your mind automatically place blame?
Disabuse yourself of the notion that the frequency of my posts relegate me to the back of the room or lessen my claim that you were WRONG! I did not call you a racist, in fact I pointed out your prejudice... Which was quite clear. And, once again you believe yourself somewhat witty with the name calling... Please grow up, and learn what it means to have a civil discourse where you may not agree with the views of others but can still be polite.
I read noise-gates posts/comments, and they are laced with prejudice; I did not have to jump to any conclusions. This isn't about being politically correct, this is about humility. One person (Rene) pointed out that it was prejudice to ASSUME and JUMP to CONCLUSIONS that the store owner was a "Patel." And, instead of acknowledging that fault noise-gates response was something attune to : "YOU MUST BE A PATEL, or BE RELATED TO ONE."
That sir, is ridiculous! This line of thinking is akin to admonishing all black-americans who own a gun as being guilty of some larger illegal crime. When they very well could be law abiding citizens, who lawfully own their firearm.
This line of thinking also shows that you or noise-gate have never been openly affected by prejudice, and you seem to be very apathetic to the plight and voices being raised here.
It doesn't matter if one or forty "Patel's," owning lottery stores have been caught scamming, they do not ALL do it, they are not ALL bad... And, to assume so... Makes you PREJUDICE!
DC player- Frankly l don't give a rat's $^//&** what you think. Both you and the other character turned this subject into what it was not intended to be.
You cannot tell me that both of you have never displayed stereotypically behavior, you darn well know that if you said that you have not- you would be liars. So just stop this Knights in Shinning Armor behavior, your behavioral traits are not divine, you don't walk on water & don't be so thin skinned - as someone in the movies once said " don't get attached to things".
As for the re-mark on 3 posts in 4 years, that was said in jest, if you took offense to that statement- have another beer.
My stereo types.
Classic straw man fallacy at work here. I'm not a knight and shining armor and I have never claimed to be one. I'm not claiming to be perfect but I call out BS when I see it. You are blaming me and DC for turning the subject into something it was not intended to be but that blame falls squarely on your shoulders not ours. The article was posted and most of the other commenters were talking about what a shame it was that this customer was taken advantage of and I agree with them. I took no issue with the other commenters.
But you went above and beyond the other commenters, you made a comment about the likely surname of the store owner of RD's Deli and Market in Melrose, Massachusetts. That's what happens when you make gross generalizations and perpetuate stereotypes, sooner or later you're going to get caught.
Had you read the articles before making assumptions about racism I doubt you would have posted the same remarks.
Two or three, coincidence. When the same name is involved in so many lottery scams it's wither being used as an alias or is a red flag for anyone asking someone else to check their tickets.
Patel might be a very common name in India, but so is Smith in the U.S. There's not a whole bunch of smiths involved in such scams.
Check : http://stuffaboutnames.com/smith/criminals.htm
How many Smiths were involved in screwing lottery players over their winnings? do tell.
When it comes to lottery tickets you got to keep your eye on everyone. I consider everyone honest where I buy my tickets but the other day I used the drive thru to buy $10 worth of MM tickets using two marked play slips and the clerk acted like he ran my slips and then handed them back to me with two tickets and said that will be $12. He tried to sell me two tickets with 3 lines with the megaplier and claimed the terminals must had misprinted my tickets. I suspect he had some mistakes and were trying to dump them off on me, had he only said $10 I would have never checked those tickets. Now I back to walking in and watching them run my tickets.
The store owner's last name wasn't Patel. The mentally challenged customer recieved her winnings! Really! She got her money! All this hate over a topic! Other readers would love to read articles and post positive comments thank you! A hit dog hollers!
I believe we were talking lottery scams.
If you want to go the route you took, in many embezzlement, check kiting, hanging paper scams, etc...a commonly used named is I.M. Rich.
I used to work in a liquor store while going back to school a few years ago and one of the girls I worked with took a check signed "U.R. Stuck".
The store owners name no longer matters and it looks like the fact they sold lottery tickets to a "mentally disabled woman" who was intelligent enough to find the $950 payoff "fishy" doesn't matter either.
Just checked the Mass Lottery website for the name of the woman in the story, but found they don't room for measly $10,000 winners because of all the $1 million winners.
yes, I know about the articles and I feel the same way as I did before. My position has not changed. I judge people on a case by case basis. Their own actions dictate how I treat them.
As far as lottery scams are concerned, I trust no one with my tickets, this includes Patels, Smiths, Changs, or Martinez. I manually check my tickets myself and I already know what my ticket is worth before handing it to anyone else.
I knew l was right. Typical hypocrite- your words betray you.
" l Judge on a case by case basis"
You not Royalty although you think you are.
Go back to the shadows.!
You are grasping at straws now. A username is just a username. I'm not royalty. I choose the, "prince" part of my username as a joke and no, I'm not going any where. You have no right to tell me to stay or leave. You do not own Lottery Post. I have as much right to be here as you or anyone else.
as far as me judging people based on their own actions is concerned. I leave you with a famous quote:
"I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." -MLK
Judging people based on their own actions is part of determining the content of their character. I don't buy into stereotypes. I treat people the same regardless of skin color and I don't read a news article about a crime that has been committed and then insinuate a person with an East Indian surname must have committed the crime.
That is what you did. The article in this thread talks about a heinous crime of a store owner ripping off a customer and what do you do? You jump to the conclusion that someone in the East Indian community is responsible for the heinous crime. A conclusion I have already demonstrated as false.
I labeled you as a racist based on your action but if you don't want to accept that label that is fine with me. That's up to you. But remember if another news article is posted about a crime being committed, I would want to think twice about insinuating the ethnicity of the perpetrator. Saying someone of a particular community is responsible for the crime before all evidence has come out would make me look racist in most people's eyes.