Prosecution rests in Hot Lotto trial

Jul 16, 2015, 3:35 pm (5 comments)

Hot Lotto

The defense began calling witnesses Thursday morning in the trial against a former lottery vendor employee accused of rigging a Hot Lotto drawing to win a $14.3 million ticket.

Eddie Tipton, 52, is being tried on two counts of fraud. Tipton has been accused of purchasing the winning ticket at a Des Moines QuikTrip on Dec. 23, 2010. In his former position as the information security director for the Multi-State Lottery Association, Tipton was barred by Iowa law from buying a lottery ticket.

Investigators have accused Tipton of rigging the game in his favor. The case is considered historic because it is believed to be the first trial for someone accused of manipulating a lottery draw.

Assistant Attorney General Rob Sand began Thursday's proceedings by recalling two witnesses he had called on Wednesday. The two witnesses were Ed Stefan, a former chief security officer for the Multi-State Lottery organization, and Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation Special Agent Don Smith.

After asking Stefan and Smith a few followup questions, Sand then called on the prosecution's last witness, Julie Johnson McClean. Johnson McClean is an attorney at Davis Brown Law Firm in Iowa.

Johnson McClean represented Hexham Investments Trust when it attempted to claim the Hot Lotto prize through Crawford Shaw, a New York attorney, about an hour before the ticket was set to expire in 2011.

In court, Johnson McClean said she had spoken to both Shaw and Philip Johnston, a man in Canada who had previously contacted the Iowa Lottery and said he was the winner of the ticket. The prize was never awarded because of the Iowa Lottery's security procedures.

Johnson McClean said she had never spoken to the primary beneficiary of the Hexham Investments Trust. She also said she received no hints that Tipton was linked to the trust and would not have assisted if she had.

After a jury break, defense attorney Dean Stowers called the defense's first witness, Iowa DCI Special Agent Michael Kircher, a forensic computer examiner with the DCI's cyber crime unit.

Kircher examined a cellphone that Tipton formerly used in his job at MUSL. Stowers showed Kircher photos of a clean-shavened Tipton taken on an iPhone on two different days — Nov. 21, 2010, and Jan. 1, 2011. The Jan. 1 photo indicated it was taken in Cypress, Texas, Kircher said.

Tipton has claimed he was visiting family in Texas when the ticket was purchased. The defense has also argued Tipton doesn't match the description of the man pictured in security footage purchasing the winning ticket. The man in the video appeared to have a beard.

Court recessed for lunch at about 11:30 a.m. The trial was set to start back up again at 1 p.m., with the defense continuing to call its witnesses.

Des Moines Register

Comments

noise-gate

Rests?- The prosecution must figure they have a water tight case against Tipton. 

Stack47

Quote: Originally posted by noise-gate on Jul 16, 2015

Rests?- The prosecution must figure they have a water tight case against Tipton. 

She also said she received no hints that Tipton was linked to the trust and would not have assisted if she had.

Two of the three prosecution witnesses testified the man on the tape purchasing the ticket wasn't Tipton and then Johnson McClean who represented Hexham Investments testified she had no hints Tipton was linked to the trust.

Without proving Tipton bought the ticket and with little or no evidence he rigged the drawing, it's starting to look like they had no case.

noise-gate

So far, l see no smoking gun as well. Folks who were on the stand were saying the person who purchased the ticket" walks like Tipton, talks like Tipton"- but the prosecution did not have a warm body saying " That when  l looked into the whites of this person's eyes at the counter, it was 100% Tipton in the flesh".

I think I read an earlier article where Tipton said  he had to be beyond genius to pull this off,we shall see.The Last thing l want to see is a gullible jury. 

RJOh's avatarRJOh

Quote: Originally posted by noise-gate on Jul 16, 2015

So far, l see no smoking gun as well. Folks who were on the stand were saying the person who purchased the ticket" walks like Tipton, talks like Tipton"- but the prosecution did not have a warm body saying " That when  l looked into the whites of this person's eyes at the counter, it was 100% Tipton in the flesh".

I think I read an earlier article where Tipton said  he had to be beyond genius to pull this off,we shall see.The Last thing l want to see is a gullible jury. 

I think I read an earlier article where Tipton said  he had to be beyond genius to pull this off,we shall see.The Last thing l want to see is a gullible jury. 

There wasn't a genius in this case since no one got the cash.  If Tipton did try to pull this off and was willing to engage so many peoples to avoid detection he would have been stupid to buy the ticket himself.

noise-gate

Quote: Originally posted by RJOh on Jul 16, 2015

I think I read an earlier article where Tipton said  he had to be beyond genius to pull this off,we shall see.The Last thing l want to see is a gullible jury. 

There wasn't a genius in this case since no one got the cash.  If Tipton did try to pull this off and was willing to engage so many peoples to avoid detection he would have been stupid to buy the ticket himself.

My post was based on this piece i read earlier  in the " Daily Beast"....

...Tipton insists he doesn’t know Johnston, Shaw, or Sonfield from Adam. “There’s no communication between me and them,” Tipton said, adding that there’s no way to connect him with these people—other than circumstantially. “My name is nowhere,” Tipton said.

Ask Tipton about the evidence and he comes back with his own version of conspiracy and innuendo. He never bought the ticket. Some mystery man did.

“I have to prove that it wasn’t me because whoever did it—we don’t know who it is,” he said.

“I know how the game works,” Tipton added. “So either I’m an incredible genius that did something stupid or I’m just plain incredibly stupid. But how can I be an incredible genius and do something stupid at the same time?”

 

** My  recollection of the quote from 7/7/15 is a little off- but you get the point nonetheless.

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