Includes video report
Iowa investigators are asking the public for help in identifying the person who bought a lottery ticket worth $14.3 million that spawned a bizarre, two-year fraud investigation.
Investigators want to learn the identity of a white man wearing a hooded sweatshirt who purchased the lottery ticket at a QuikTrip near Interstate Highway 80 on Dec. 23, 2010, said Dave Jobes, an Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation assistant director, during a news conference Thursday. The video released Thursday shows the purchase from two angles; however, a hood hides the man's face from viewers.
It is unknown whether the man is an Iowa resident, Jobes said. It's possible — given the gas station's close proximity to the cross-country interstate — that the purchaser was traveling through Iowa at the time, he said.
It also remains unknown whether the purchaser was a participant in the fraud that led to the investigation or a crime victim himself, Jobes said. Investigators want anybody who believes they recognize the purchaser to share information online via SurveyMonkey.
The man arrived at the northeast Des Moines convenience store midafternoon on Dec. 23, 2010. The video shows a white man wearing a hoodie with the hood up and a baseball cap buying two hot dogs and two lottery tickets. The man declines the $1 "Sizzler" option, which increases prizes in some cases. The winning ticket was time-stamped 3:24 p.m.
The buyer never looks up enough to get a clear shot of his face, state officials said.
Several days later, the ticket came up a winner. But the ticket went unclaimed for nearly a year. Hours before the ticket was to expire in 2011, a group called Hexham Investments Trust — a mysterious company incorporated in Belize — tried to claim the prize through a New York attorney named Crawford Shaw.
Those behind the trust refused to reveal their identities, which is required under Iowa law. Lottery officials refused to release the cash.
In a last-ditch effort, Shaw asked if Hexham Investments could claim the cash and turn it over to the state to give away to charity.
Lottery officials declined the offer, saying it was the duty of the prize winner to accept and distribute the funds. Hexham Investments and Shaw gave up their claim to the cash. The prize money was returned to the states participating in Hot Lotto. The Iowa Lottery used its portion of the prize money for a special game in 2012.
Since then, DCI officials have kept the investigation active. They even traveled to Canada to check out a lead, but no charges have ever been filed. In Thursday's news conference, Jobes said Shaw has continued to help DCI investigators with the case.
Jobes declined to say whether there is surveillance video available of the ticket purchaser leaving the gas station or driving away. Currently, investigators believe that the person or people behind Hexham Investments were not the original owners of the ticket and committed fraud by trying to get the money.
"A fraud was perpetrated when someone attempted to redeem the ticket fraudulently," Jobes said. "The other reason to pursue it is we don't know if something happened to the original ticket purchaser."
Iowa's statute of limitations for fraud charges is three years, Jobes said. While the clock is ticking, investigators have not put together a full timeline of how any fraud happened, he said. He still believes fraud charges can be brought against people involved, he said.
"The statute of limitations begins at the last act in furtherance of the fraud, and right now we don't know when that act occurred," he said. "There's not a hard timeline right now."
VIDEO: Watch the surveillance footage
Follow the story
A compilation of Lottery Post news stories chronicling the Hot Lotto mystery.
- Deadline for claiming $16.5M Hot Lotto jackpot nears, Sep. 21, 2011
- Unclaimed Iowa lottery jackpot to expire Dec. 29, Dec. 1, 2011
- Iowa $16.5M Hot Lotto winner claims prize with two hours to spare, Dec. 29, 2011
- Iowa Lottery security chief bent on determining identity of jackpot winner, Jan. 10, 2012
- NY lawyer in lottery mystery travels to Iowa this week, Jan. 17, 2012
- Iowa Lottery security chief to grill NY lawyer over Hot Lotto ticket, Jan. 17, 2012
- Representative of Hot Lotto winner named in lawsuit, Jan. 20, 2012
- Hot Lotto trust representative won't name winner, Jan. 20, 2012
- Iowa Lottery threatens to deny jackpot payout if winner stays anonymous, Jan. 23, 2012
- Lawyer gives up $14 million Iowa lottery ticket claim, Jan. 26, 2012
- $14.3 million Hot Lotto prize claim withdrawn, Jan. 27, 2012
- Iowa Legislators satisfied with Lottery's handling of mystery jackpot winner, Feb. 1, 2012
- Iowa Lottery to give away millions from jackpot mystery, Feb. 26, 2012
- Iowa Lottery director: 50-50 that Hot Lotto mystery will be solved, Aug. 9, 2012
- Iowa officials trying to solve lotto mystery, may release surveillance video, Aug. 19, 2012
- 1 year later, Iowa Lottery still hunting for suspicious no-show winner, Jan. 30, 2013
- Inquiry in Iowa Lottery mystery touches Canada, Jul. 26, 2013
- Lottery jackpot probe heats up after immunity deal, Oct. 8, 2013
Only allowing registered players to buy tickets will solve these kind of problems.
I haven't ever seen a retail security camera with audio before.
I've never seen anyone walk into a convenience store and keep their hoodie on before.
Maybe it is Cold in IOWA
perhaps the individual is wanted by the government or a criminal organization...or maybe in the witness protection program
That really sucks.
Maybe because it probably constitutes wiretapping in any jurisdiction that requires all parties to a conversation to consent to recording it. Iowa is a "one party" state, meaning any participant to a conversation can consent to having the conversation recorded. Even then there will be limitations where a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy. That wouldn't apply at the counter of a convenience store, but would almost certainly apply in apharmacy where you may be discussing your health care.
I've got to say, that's a pretty awful security video, even with audio. Even if the guy wasn't wearing the hoodie it probably wouldn't be easy to recognize him given the high angle and distance. Obviously it would be nice to identify the guy in this case, but if I buy a winning lottery ticket I'd prefer that the video only corroborate that purchase after I come forward, rather than making it easy for casual acquaintances to identify me if somebody decides to post the video.
Trayvon Martin did it:
He did?
Weird stuff. If they could show the vehicle i think it would help more.
It's strange a store that has cameras inside and a mic to capture audio would not also have a camera outside.
My favorite lottery story from the past several years. Glad to read an update on it. (Probably the story that got me to register an LP account.)
My current theory: the individual who bought the ticket wanted anonymity to avoid something (taxes, a lien, alimony, child support, who knows what) and found some black market where he could get $3-6 million in cash and walk away. And is now nervous that the story won't go away.
Anyone care to shoot a hole in that scenario?
WRDoug
Edit: P.S. Or he or a family member is a lottery employee that would not have been eligible to collect.
What kind of past-due taxes, alimony or child support could you possibly owe that would make you pass on collecting that much money? Whoever sent he lawyer had the option of identifying themselves in order to collect the money, so they must have had a reason for not wanting the lottery to know who they were that goes well beyond losing some of the money to a debt. The only possibilities I see are that the person who bought the ticket was prohibited from winning because they or close family work for the lottery, or the somebody other than the original purchaser came into possession of the ticket under questionable circumstances.
The problem with the first scenario is that the original purchaser could have given the ticket to somebody as a gift, and probably have had at least as good a chance as collecting a share from that person as trying to claim it without revealing their identity. If the purchaser wasn't the employee they could even have taken their chances with suing in the hopes that a court would rule that being related to an employee can't revoke their right to play a game of chance offered by the government. There's also the matter of timing. Why did they wait until the very last minute? A lottery employee with a winning ticket would presumably have been trying to make plans from the moment they knew they had one.
OTOH, there are countless ways that somebody else could have come into possession of the ticket without gaining lawful ownership. In that case waiting would probably make it less likely that the original purchaser (or their survivors) would be an obstacle, and it would allow time to search for clues that the original purchaser even knew the ticket was missing or was a winner. Waiting until the very last minute still strikes me as a good way to raise suspicions, though, especially considering that they used an out of state attorney to try and claim for an anonymous foreign trust.
File this article under "Unpaid Child Support & Expensive Alimony" category Todd.