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Prosecution calling last witnesses for $5M lottery theft trialNews Story
Prosecutor Beth Van Doren has called 11 out of 15 potential witnesses to the stand in the Onondaga County Court trial of two brothers accused of stealing a winning $5 million lottery ticket. The bench trial before Judge Joseph Fahey began Monday and resumes this morning. Thursday, Van Doren questioned several co-workers of Robert Miles, a maintenance worker who claims he is the real winner of the $5 million. Miles alleges that Andy Ashkar, who is charged with criminal possession of stolen
Apr 26, 2013, 7:17 am - Lottery News

Emotions run hot in NY brothers' $5M lottery ticket trialNews Story
Defense attorneys had the chance this morning to question a lottery investigator who interviewed two brothers claiming to have won $5 million off a scratch-off ticket sold at their father's store. Jay Hemlock, who was called to the stand Tuesday afternoon by prosecutor Beth Van Doren, was in court for further testimony this morning. Hemlock said he investigated Andy and Nayel Ashkar's claim for $5 million with the New York State Lottery. The brothers are on trial in Onondaga County Court b
Apr 24, 2013, 5:44 pm - Lottery News

NY brothers' $5 million lottery theft trial enters second dayNews Story
The trial of two brothers accused of trying to claim $5 million in winnings off a stolen lottery ticket started Monday at 1:00 pm in Onondaga County Court, in Syracuse, New York. (See Non-jury trial expected next week for lottery-thieving brothers, Lottery Post, Apr. 19, 2013.) Andy Ashkar, 34, is accused of stealing a winning ticket from customer Robert Miles at The Green Ale Market on East Fayette Street in Syracuse on Oct. 27, 2006. Prosecutors say Ashkar told Miles the Extravaganza tic
Apr 23, 2013, 4:52 pm - Lottery News

Non-jury trial expected next week for lottery-thieving brothersNews Story
Two brothers accused of attempting to claim $5 million from the state lottery office with a stolen scratch-off ticket will waive their right to a jury trial, according to attorneys. (See NY brothers charged in plot to steal $5M New York Lottery ticket, Lottery Post, Nov. 14, 2012.) Andy Ashkar, 34, and Nayel Ashkar, 36, will opt on Monday to have County Court Judge Joseph Fahey decide their innocence or guilt, said defense attorney Robert Tisdell. Tisdell, who is representing Nayel Ashk
Apr 19, 2013, 2:57 pm - Lottery News

Iowa woman tries to cash stolen lottery ticketsNews Story
A Des Moines, Iowa, woman tried to cash voided Iowa Lottery tickets she stole while working at a company hired to shred old tickets, police said. Chandi Kelly Ramirez, 38, was charged with forgery of a lottery ticket. Ramirez worked at International Paper, which has a document destruction and recycling division in Des Moines, police reports show. An Iowa Lottery employee told police International Paper employees picked up a large quantity of lottery tickets from their warehouse on March
Apr 19, 2013, 9:45 am - Lottery News

Former MD Lottery employee charged with theft of lottery ticketsNews Story
Claimed $67,000 in winnings before he was caught A former Maryland Lottery official has been indicted for stealing tickets and collecting tens of thousands of dollars from the winnings, officials said on Thursday. Mark Barron Hantski, 59, of Lothian, a former Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency employee, collected $67,000 in winnings after stealing tickets from the Maryland Lottery, officials said in a news release. Officials say that the Grand Jury for Anne Arundel County formal
Apr 19, 2013, 9:33 am - Lottery News

Judge throws out some charges against lottery-thieving brothersNews Story
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
Apr 16, 2013, 7:35 am - Lottery News

UK shopkeeper guilty of lottery fraudNews Story
A shopkeeper from Gravesend, a town in northwest Kent, England, has been found guilty of trying to con a lottery syndicate [pool] out of nearly 80,000 (US$120,000) in winnings. Imran Pervais, 26, misled the winning group into thinking they had won 10 when in fact they had scooped 79,887 after matching five balls and the bonus ball. He was convicted by a jury at Maidstone crown court of fraud by false representation following a two-day trial and he will be sentenced at a later date. Dete
Apr 4, 2013, 5:02 am - Lottery News

Former SC lottery employee accused of embezzling more than $200,000News Story
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 finan
Mar 20, 2013, 8:24 am - Lottery News

Baltimore man, 81, loses his home after falling for lottery scamNews Story
The first caller told Norman Breidenbaugh he had won $2.5 million in a foreign sweepstakes, but there was a catch: Breidenbaugh needed to send $2,000 in fees before collecting his earnings. Other calls followed, promising Breidenbaugh millions more even a Mercedes Benz as long as he would wire some money to pay taxes on the prizes. He obliged, sending more than $400,000 over about six years, hoping the promised winnings would cover his wife's medical expenses. The prizes never came. The pe
Mar 7, 2013, 9:01 am - Lottery News