Woman who stole $175,000 lottery ticket avoids jail time

Jan 10, 2006, 6:36 am (8 comments)

Mega Millions

Dora Leal dodged a potential 15-year prison sentence Monday and was given probation and community service for her theft of a $175,000 winning lottery ticket from a group of Chicago traders.

Last month a Cook County jury found Leal guilty of stealing the Mega Millions lottery ticket in December, 2003.

She was a runner at the Chicago Board Options Exchange, where 16 people had pooled money to purchase lottery tickets, said prosecutor Lori Rosen. Leal was sent to a convenience store with the tickets to check for winners. She pocketed the prize ticket after learning it was worth $175,000, Rosen said.

She "told the storeowner to keep it quiet and not tell anyone," Rosen said.

But bystanders overheard news of her win and cheered, and word leaked to the traders, Rosen said. In addition, the store owner photocopied the ticket, according to Rosen.

She signed and pocketed the ticket, even though she wasn't one of the 16 people who pooled their money to play, prosecutors said.

Leal testified that she gave all the tickets back to her boss, a trader.

Defense attorney Robert Kuzas had argued that Leal never tried to cash the ticket or have it validated. It has not been found. Kuzas suggested that one of the traders might have lost the ticket.

The traders were allowed to use a photocopy of the ticket to claim their prize.

Crediting her with 50 days already served in jail, Judge Vincent Gaughan sentenced her to three years probation and 200 hours of community service.

Lottery Post Staff

Tags for this story

Other popular tags

Comments

BabyJC's avatarBabyJC

Unbelievable -- A slap on the wrist.  This lenient sentence is not going to discourage this type of crime again!  If anything, at least her name will be mud and she will have to endure the embarassment of being recognized as a thief when out at the grocery store, etc.

DoubleDown

I can't believe they paid off of a photocopy.

qutgnt

Why cant you believe the paid off the photocopy. There was a certain number of tickets in the sequence that they had and that one was gone due to extrodinary circumstances.  I am glad common sense was used here, there needs to be a lot more common sense in the world.

RJOh's avatarRJOh

Unbelievable -- A slap on the wrist.  This lenient sentence is not going to discourage this type of crime again!  If anything, at least her name will be mud and she will have to endure the embarassment of being recognized as a thief when out at the grocery store, etc.

I assume anyone might consider becoming a thief if they think they have discovered a $175,000 lottery ticket that the real owner doesn't know about, even the store clerk checking the ticket.  That's the reason lottery players should check their own tickets and not help a good person go bad.

DoubleDown

Why cant you believe the paid off the photocopy. There was a certain number of tickets in the sequence that they had and that one was gone due to extrodinary circumstances.  I am glad common sense was used here, there needs to be a lot more common sense in the world.

I hear what you are saying and agree, but was just  thinking that they might have found a way to get out of paying without the original ticket, that's all.

danamukie$

Unbelievable -- A slap on the wrist.  This lenient sentence is not going to discourage this type of crime again!  If anything, at least her name will be mud and she will have to endure the embarassment of being recognized as a thief when out at the grocery store, etc.

I assume anyone might consider becoming a thief if they think they have discovered a $175,000 lottery ticket that the real owner doesn't know about, even the store clerk checking the ticket.  That's the reason lottery players should check their own tickets and not help a good person go bad.

By no means was this a good person, She was bad to start off with and helped herself get worse!

whitmansm2's avatarwhitmansm2

I called this one from the begining!  I always said she'd get "time already served" and probation.

 

Its wrong....but that's the way it is.

Sad.

justxploring's avatarjustxploring

 I could never steal from coworkers, but I've worked with many who would feel no guilt.  I also would never ask a clerk to check my ticket, even someone friendly & nice.  Why tempt people?

"The devil tempts us not--'tis we tempt him, Reckoning his skill with opportunity. "

George Eliot

End of comments
Subscribe to this news story
Guest