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Iowa Lottery investigation highlights difficult balance between security and profitsNews Story
For more than a year while he worked at the Brick Street Market in Bondurant, Iowa, Matthew Hinrichs quietly stole lottery tickets, cashing in at least $28,000 in illegitimate prize money, prosecutors say. When he was finally caught in 2016, Hinrichs pleaded guilty to two felony counts of fraud and was ordered to pay back those winnings, plus nearly $5,000 more. Lottery officials say their layers of security allowed them to track Hinrichs' activity, providing data that was invaluable to pr
Jun 6, 2017, 2:48 pm - Lottery News

Virginia woman conned out of nearly $30,000News Story
The Spotsylvania Sheriff's Office is investigating an incident in which a woman in the Virginia county was bilked out of nearly $30,000 after being promised lottery riches, court records show. According to an affidavit for a search warrant filed in Spotsylvania Circuit Court, the 68-year-old victim was at the Spotsylvania Towne Centre late last month when she was approached by two Hispanic women who asked her for a ride. Det. William Lee wrote that the women told the victim that they had a
May 17, 2017, 8:52 am - Lottery News

Lottery ticket scam costs victim $19,000News Story
Includes video report Haines City police are looking for the pair who used the promise of a Florida Lotto payoff to scam a man out of $19,000. According to investigators, they met the victim at a Family Dollar store. Police released surveillance video of the three men together. The men told the 42-year-old victim they had a winning lottery ticket worth $750,000, but they said they couldn't claim it because they're not here legally. They told him if he gave them $19,000 cash, they would
May 7, 2017, 12:05 pm - Lottery News

2 found guilty, 1 acquitted in $2 million Hoosier Lottery scamNews Story
A Marion County jury has found two of the three persons accused in a $2 million scam involving a bogus winning Hoosier Lottery ticket guilty on multiple counts, while a third defendant was found not guilty. Found guilty Wednesday were Ashlee Campbell Parsley, 30, and her brother-in-law, Jackie Parsley II, 35. Meanwhile, the charges against Joseph Parsley, 32, Ashlee Parsley's husband and Jackie Parsley II's brother, were dismissed by Marion Superior Court Judge Grant W. Hawkins prior to cl
Apr 28, 2017, 9:40 am - Lottery News

Trial set to start for 3 people charged in $2M Hoosier Lottery scam caseNews Story
A jury trial is scheduled to start Monday in the case of three people accused of trying to bilk the Hoosier Lottery out of $2 million. Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry will handle the case. In 2015, police arrested Jackie Parsley II, Joseph Parsley and Ashlee Campbell Parsley in connection with the scam. They're accused of falsely redeeming a lottery ticket from a Plainfield liquor store owned by a relative of Jackie and Joseph Parsley. (See 3 face charges in Indiana Lottery scam, L
Apr 24, 2017, 9:57 am - Lottery News

Best friend to testify against Tipton at July lottery rigging trialNews Story
It took Texas businessman Robert Rhodes more than a year to turn against his good old boy best friend after he realized that Eddie Tipton would not do a deal and tell prosecutors about how he had created an elaborate system to rig lotteries in five states. But despite fear for his safety, Rhodes is poised to give testimony at a trial scheduled for July 10 in Des Moines that prosecutors hope will finally put Tipton behind bars a decade after launching a scheme that netted $2 million in jackpot
Mar 31, 2017, 7:48 am - Lottery News

Kansas files lawsuit against accused lottery riggerNews Story
A lawsuit by the state of Kansas accuses the man at the center of a multi-state lottery number-fixing scam of working with two others to redeem two rigged lottery tickets for $44,000. Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt announced Tuesday he filed the Shawnee County lawsuit against Eddie Tipton and two others who Schmidt says turned in the tickets to the Kansas Lottery. Schmidt alleges Tipton used software manipulation to rig the tickets. Tipton, 54, of Flatonia, Texas, once worked as the
Mar 16, 2017, 6:26 am - Lottery News

Iowa Supreme Court hears lottery rigging caseNews Story
The Iowa Supreme Court heard arguments Monday on whether purely circumstantial evidence was enough to convict a former lottery employee of rigging Iowa's Hot Lotto game to win a $16.5 million jackpot. Eddie Tipton was convicted of tampering with Iowa's Hot Lotto game and attempting to cash a ticket in early 2015, but an appeals court reversed his conviction on the charge of attempting to redeem the lottery ticket, finding it was barred by the three-year statute of limitations. The Iowa Sup
Feb 14, 2017, 4:47 pm - Lottery News

Texas man pleads guilty to fraud in lottery scandal caseNews Story
A Texas businessman has pleaded guilty to fraud and admitted to helping lottery computer technician Eddie Tipton cash jackpots in a multi-state number-fixing scheme that netted $2 million. Robert Rhodes pleaded guilty in a Des Moines courtroom Monday. Iowa prosecutors will seek two years of probation. Rhodes says he helped Tipton try to cash a $16.5 million 2010 Iowa Hot Lotto ticket but suspicious officials never paid. Rhodes agreed to testify against Tipton and his brother, Tommy Tipt
Jan 11, 2017, 4:18 pm - Lottery News

Former MUSL official received severance amid lottery jackpot scandalNews Story
A prominent lottery official who was stripped of power after a subordinate allegedly carried out a prolonged jackpot-rigging scheme received a $284,000 severance payment, a recent tax filing shows. The Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) made the payment to its longtime executive director Chuck Strutt as part of a voluntary termination agreement signed March 31, according to its 2016 tax return. The filing, released by the group in response to a request by The AP, also reveals that its leg
Jan 10, 2017, 10:04 pm - Lottery News