Postal employee admits to tampering with mail to redeem prize

By Kate Northrop

A United States Postal Service Office employee was arrested after stealing a Florida lottery player's winning $2,600 Pick 4 ticket and attempting to cash it in.

The Florida Lottery has announced the arrest of a post office worker who tampered with a piece of mail containing a winning lottery ticket worth $2,600 and went through the claims process to keep it for themselves.

On July 31, the Florida Lottery Division of Security in conjunction with the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General announced the arrest of Lakaysha Kenya Lockhart, 28, after she admitted to stealing the winning ticket and fraudulently redeeming it at the Lottery's Miami District Office.

On June 14, the victim, who remains anonymous in arrest documents, visited the 7-Eleven on Bruce B Downs Boulevard in Tampa to play numbers 1-2-5-0 in a $1 Straight/Box play, the arrest affidavit recounts. The clerk produced the ticket with her play slip, the player paid, and they left the store.

The next day, the player visited the Publix located on the same street and scanned the ticket to find that it had won $2,600 in the June 14 Evening draw. Since the prize amount was over the $599 maximum threshold that a retailer can pay out, the lottery terminal generated a PCI, or Player Claims Instructions, that directs the retailer to return the ticket to the player and explains to the winner how to claim the prize.

Within the hour, the victim visited the USPS post office on Bruce B Downs Boulevard in Tampa and generated a shipping label with tracking to send the winning ticket to a family relative in Fort Lauderdale so they could "financially assist with [the] funeral cost" of an unnamed individual.

On June 24, the player grew suspicious when they noticed that the mail piece containing the ticket was still not delivered. They reported it to the Florida Lottery, which triggered an investigation. The next day, the victim provided a photo of the ticket in question to officials.

Authorities were able to use the photo to track the winning ticket, which they determined was redeemed at the Miami District Office on June 19 by Lockhart.

The victim had no idea who Lockhart was and did not approve the redemption by this unknown individual.

Lockhart had requested a prize redemption via an electronic wire transfer, which had triggered a message sent from the Miami-Lakes District Office to the Florida Lottery headquarters in their closed telecommunications system.

"The telecommunications and/or electronic communication for the ticket stolen was greater than $300.00; and the telecommunications and/or electronic communication played a critical role in the furtherance of this crime," the affidavit reads.

On June 30, the Lottery discovered that Lockhart was a USPS employee as a Level II City Carrier stationed at the Oakland Park facility at 1900 West Oakland Park.

Lockhart was arrested on July 23, after which she admitted to stealing and redeeming the winning lottery ticket.

"Our players deserve confidence that every lottery prize is protected through strong security measures and diligent oversight," Florida Lottery Secretary Reginald D. Dixon said in a statement. "I commend our Division of Security for their outstanding investigative work and thank our partners at the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General and the Broward County Sheriff's Office for their collaboration in protecting the integrity of Florida Lottery games and bringing this case to a successful resolution."

Lockhart was charged with Grand Theft, Dealing in Stolen Property, Filing a False Claim for Payment, two counts of Unlawful Use of a Two-Way Communications Device, and Mail Theft. The alleged offenses occurring in multiple judicial circuits mean that the cases will be prosecuted separately, the Lottery said.

Lockhart was released on bail according to court records, and a plea has not yet been entered.