Ex-lottery official charged in $1 million payout scam

Nov 10, 2004, 1:19 pm (5 comments)

Indiana Lottery

Man told 2 others where a winning ticket would be sold, prosecutors say.

A former security officer for the Hoosier Lottery is accused of conspiring with two other men to rig a $1 million scratch-off game.

Prosecutors say William C. Foreman told two men that a winning ticket in the "$2,000,000 Bonus Spectacular" game had been sent to a store in Cross Plains, Ind.

One of those men then went to that store and bought its entire supply of the game's $20 tickets -- about $700 worth, according to court documents.

Foreman, 59, was arrested Monday and charged with disclosing confidential lottery information, a Class A felony carrying a prison term of up to 50 years.

Daniel Foltz, 31, and Chad Adkins, 28, also were arrested Monday. They face preliminary charges of Class D felony theft, with a possible prison term of up to three years.

Foreman, the secretary for the Indiana State Fraternal Order of Police, also is charged with Class C felony theft, carrying a maximum prison term of eight years.

After Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi and a team of investigators served search warrants at the lottery's Downtown Indianapolis offices Monday, Brizzi said the inquiry continues.

"It's just this one game that was compromised," Brizzi said. "I don't want to send a scare to the entire state of Indiana that the lottery is somehow fixed, because our investigation is limited to just this one game and all of the tickets have now been accounted for."

Five tickets for the game would have won $1 million prizes, said Hoosier Lottery Director Jack Ross.

One of those jackpot tickets was sold to a legitimate winner who lives in Mishawaka; three were in the lottery's warehouse and subsequently were destroyed, along with all unsold tickets for the game.

The fifth ticket is the one redeemed by Adkins and Foltz. It was worth $1 million -- $50,000 a year for 20 years. Adkins and Foltz each were paid $25,000.

Ross said new tickets were printed -- including three new million-dollar winners -- and the game continues. The winners of the five valid tickets will be entered in a drawing to win an additional $1 million.

Ross said his agency is cooperating with the inquiry.

"If they have evidence now that this game is compromised, we will continue to cooperate and make sure they are brought to justice," he said. "The integrity of the lottery is job one over here. There are no games on the street that have been compromised in any way."

If it's proved the game was rigged, Ross said, the lottery will seek to recover the money awarded to Foltz and Adkins.

According to court documents, the game was compromised on May 13, when Hoosier Lottery investigator Matthew Hollcraft obtained a ticket reconstruction list from the Georgia-based manufacturer. That list, combined with information available at the lottery office, would allow someone to trace all five winning tickets.

Two others besides Hollcraft had access to that list, prosecutors say: Pete Byrne, the lottery's security chief, and Foreman.

Foreman, prosecutors say, conspired with Adkins and Foltz to claim a winning ticket sent to Otter's Grocery in Cross Plains, in Ripley County in southeastern Indiana.

According to records, store clerk Ragina Warner identified Foltz as the man who spent about $700 to purchase the store's stock of "$2,000,000 Bonus Spectacular" tickets in May. She told police she had never seen anyone buy that many $20 tickets.

Lottery officials had been conducting their own investigation into that game, Ross said. The list, a major security breach, was one of the performance issues that led to Hollcraft's resignation in May, Ross said.

According to court records, Foltz went to lottery headquarters Sept. 7 to claim the prize; Adkins went the next day. Byrne, the security chief, interviewed the men and recognized Adkins as Foreman's friend.

In that interview, Ross said, Adkins admitted he knew Foreman but denied receiving any information from him about the game.

Ross delayed paying the men and required Byrne and Foreman to take polygraph tests. Byrne passed the test.

Foreman refused the polygraph and resigned in September, Ross said, "but he insisted on telling me that he had nothing to do with compromising the tickets."

Indianapolis Star

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CASH Only

Did the game have a cash option?

Sconiers's avatarSconiers

Liar Liar Pants on Fire . Look at what the liars told me that they did not Know where the tickets went.

 



Thank you for visiting the Hoosier Lottery Web site. We appreciate that you took the time to share your concerns. Our scratch-off tickets are manufactured by an internationally respected company, Scientific Games. Scientific Games is subject to independent audit of its products and we have full confidence in the tickets they produce for us. No one at the Hoosier Lottery knows the distribution of prizes by Scientific Games. Scientific Games certifies that the distribution of prizes is random. Lottery personnel do not learn where the winning tickets are located until the player claims the prize.

 

Commonly Marion County does have a greater number of winners. This is simply because Marion County sells more tickets.  In addition to the fact that Marion County's population is twice as big as the next largest county in Indiana, Indianapolis is located in Marion County and is visited often by out of town guests. A higher number of total tickets sold will mean a higher number of prize winners.

 

The odds for all our tickets are not effected by the location the ticket is purchased.  Marion County players do not have any advantage over other Hoosier Lottery players.  The odds are the same for each player.

 

We are pleased to report that our scratch-off games pay out at a rate of approximately 65%, which is comparable to or better than most other lotteries in the country.

 

You might also be interested in knowing that the Hoosier Lottery also has an independent auditor oversee and/or evaluate drawings, operations and financial records. 

 

 



>>> Sconiers <gigeronimo@sbcglobal.net> 8/24/2004 3:55:47 PM >>>







From Silas G Sconiers

P.O. Box 64076

Gary , Indiana 46401

 

Attention

 C E O Hooiser Lottery

 

We are sick of these $1.00 winnings you are nicke & dimeing us all the money is being won in marion county. Give us a better breakdown of the scratch off game it seems that corruption is running rampant in your agency and if something is not done soon I will circulate a petition to have the federal government investigate as to why your big winning scratch off tickets are sold in certain communities. I /WE want a better comprehensive look at who is buying , how much is being spent in each community, how much is being won in each community and percentage of return to the  community based on spending.

 

I will bet that marion county ranks # 1

 

don't tell me about your statistics that you now use which are blurred with all other winners to cover the crime.

 

Random luck of the distribution.

I was bron at night but it wasn't last night.

 

Explain yourself to the pubilc in full detail.







    The liberal philosophy holds that enduring governments must be accountable to some one besides themselves; It holds that  unless there is a method , be it through elections or other wise , by which the governed can make their views effective in some porportion to their weight, the nation is at the the mercy of violence in the form of terrorism , assanation , conspiracy , mass complusion , and civil war. 

 

Ron
Sconiers's avatarSconiers

If you would like to see the orginal with headers I will foward it to you they set the dumb cops up to take the fall.

enterceptorr

it would seem, after careful evaluation, that someone allowed a lot of "winning" packs to be distributed into the population, which was not their intent. i believe those packs were never meant to be "distributed"

so, when they were, the state flared up and concocted the ogpog crap and allowed info to fall into security hands "knowing" they wold take the bait, and this "allowed" the state the excuse to shut that particular game down. as the lotto rules would dictate.

Sconiers's avatarSconiers

Thank you for visiting the Hoosier Lottery Web site. We appreciate your
interest, comment and/or question. Someone will respond to your e-mail
soon. In the meantime, if you require an answer more quickly, please
contact our Customer Service Department at 1-800-955-6886 or our direct
telephone number at (317) 264-4800.

You can also visit www.hoosierlottery.com and click on the F.A.Q.
section to find answers to many Frequently Asked Questions.

Other items that might be of interest:

The Hoosier Lottery Web site has tabs near the top of the page dividing
information like Winning Numbers, Promotions, Game Information and much
more into different sections. If you do not see these tabs, you may
have
spyware blockers or pop-up blockers. If you disable those features, the
tabs should return for easy navigation.

If you are a member of the Lotto Fun Club and have changed your e-mail
address, you do not need to re-register in the club. Simply enter the
club with your old e-mail address and then click on EDIT PROFILE to
change your e-mail address.

If you want to know the exact prize amount for a specific category,
please click on WINNING NUMBERS and then click on PRIZE PAYOUT.

If you would like to redeem a prize via the mail, please click on
WINNING NUMBERS and then click on CLAIMING PRIZES to obtain
instructions
and a claim form. Please remember to immediately sign the back of your
ticket.

Remember, Lottery tickets do expire. Draw game tickets expire 180 days
from the draw date, and scratch-off ticket game end dates can be found
on the Web site. Please click on GAMES and then click on SCRATCH-OFFS
and each active game will be displayed with a game end date.

What are the ticket-buying, cut-off and redemption hours? The
ticket-buying and cut-off times can be found by clicking GAMES and then
picking the game you played. Ticket redemption hours are 4:30 a.m. -
11:45 p.m. Scratch-off redemption concludes at 8 p.m. on Sundays. These
are strongly suggested times for the retailers. You may visit a
retailer
not selling during all of these available times. A retailer can
determine if the hours need to be shortened.

Thank you for your interest in the Hoosier Lottery.

Sincerely,

Hoosier Lottery Player Support



>>> gigeronimo 11/14/04 03:39 >>>

The State police officer had to be set up because we smelled a rat it
was plain to see.

This was just the tip of the iceberg the real criminals are sending
investigator on a wild goose chase.

Look at the payout on the scratch off game!

There is a pattern are you that dumb not to see it al the money in the
state out weighs Indianapolis. Yet they are number 1 in payouts if this
was random distribution it would not look like over 17 years just who
is
the fool.

color=#003399 gigeronimo@sbcglobal.net via 66.163.170.66; Wed, 25 Aug 2004 12:52:45
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color=#003399 s12ca7df.035@homer.hoosierlottery.net>X-Mailer:Novell
GroupWise Internet Agent 6.5.2 BetaDate:Wed, 25 Aug 2004 14:52:44
-0500From:"PlayerSupport" <
color=#003399 playersupport@hoosierlottery.com>  Add to
Address BookTo:
color=#003399 gigeronimo@sbcglobal.netSubject:Re: Lake County( Scratch
off Games)Mime-Version:1.0Content-Type:multipart/alternative;
boundary="=__PartF7D7971C.0__="X-Virus-Scanned:Symantec AntiVirus Scan
EngineContent-Length:2903 [input]  [input]  [input]  [input]  Thank
you for visiting the Hoosier Lottery Web site. We appreciate that you
took the time to share your concerns. Our scratch-off tickets are
manufactured by an internationally respected company, Scientific Games.
Scientific Games is subject to independent audit of its products and we
have full confidence in the tickets they produce for us. No one at the
Hoosier Lottery knows the distribution of prizes by Scientific Gam
es.
Scientific Games certifies that the distribution of prizes is random.
Lottery personnel do not learn where the winning tickets are located
until the player claims the prize.

Commonly Marion County does have a greater number of winners. This is
simply because Marion County sells more tickets.  In addition to the
fact that Marion County's population is twice as big as the next
largest
county in Indiana, Indianapolis is located in Marion County and is
visited often by out of town guests. A higher number of total tickets
sold will mean a higher number of prize winners.

The odds for all our tickets are not effected by the location the
ticket
is purchased.  Marion County players do not have any advantage over
other Hoosier Lottery players.  The odds are the same for each player.

We are pleased to report that our scratch-off games pay out at a rate
of
approximately 65%, which is comparable to or better than most other
lotteries in the country.

You might also be interested in knowing that the Hoosier Lottery also
has an independent auditor oversee and/or evaluate drawings, operations
and financial records.

>>> Sconiers <
color=#003399 gigeronimo@sbcglobal.net> 8/24/2004 3:55:47 PM >>>
From Silas G Sconiers
P.O. Box 64076
Gary , Indiana 46401

Attention
C E O Hooiser Lottery

We are sick of these $1.00 winnings you are nicke & dimeing us all the
money is being won in marion county. Give us a better breakdown of the
scratch off game it seems that corruption is running rampant in your
agency and if something is not done soon I will circulate a petition to
have the federal government investigate as to why your big winning
scratch off tickets are sold in certain communities. I /WE want a
better
comprehensive look at who is buying , how much is being spent in each
community, how much is being won in each community and percentage of
return to the  community based on spending.

I will bet that marion county ranks # 1

don't tell me about your statistics that you now use which are blurred
with all other winners to cover the crime.

Random luck of the distribution.
I was bron at night but it wasn't last night.

Explain yourself to the pubilc in full detail.


    The liberal philosophy holds that enduring governments must be
accountable to some one besides themselves; It holds that  unless there
is a method , be it through elections or other wise , by which the
governed can make their views effective in some porportion to their
weight, the nation is at the the mercy of violence in the form of
terrorism , assanation , conspiracy , mass complusion , and civil war. 

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