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Former MD Lottery employee pleads guilty of stealing tickets, cashing winnersNews Story
The office of the Maryland Attorney General said Tuesday a former Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency employee pleaded guilty to theft after stealing thousands of lottery tickets and cashing in winners for $67,000. Mark Barron Hantske, 59, of Lothian, pleaded guilty in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court to two counts of felony theft over $10,000. Prosecutors say between June 2008 and February 2012, while employed as a lottery sales representative, Hantske stole more than 7,500 scratc
Aug 22, 2013, 9:33 am - Lottery News

Wisconsin woman charged with stealing to buy lottery ticketsNews Story
A 34-year-old Wisconsin Rapids woman authorities say stole almost $30,000 from her Saratoga employer and used some of the money to buy lottery tickets faces related charges in Wood County Circuit Court. Sanya M. Bernal is charged with felony theft in a business setting. If convicted, she faces a maximum of six years in prison. She is scheduled to make her initial appearance July 22 on the charges. According to the criminal complaint, Bernal was working for Saratoga Mini Mart, 8810 Highway
Jun 25, 2013, 9:56 am - Lottery News

Jamaican lottery scam investigation leads to MississippiNews Story
A Jamaican national was arrested in Gulfport, Mississippi, Monday for his role in an alleged Jamaican lottery scam. Damion Aljunior Hill, 33, is in America on a work visa, but now faces two counts of wire fraud. Investigators with the Attorney General's Office Consumer Protection Division said the two alleged victims were told that they had won the lottery, but were required to pay taxes before the award could be made. Monies were then wired to Jamaica. The victims said they received numer
Jun 17, 2013, 9:01 pm - Lottery News

Postal worker helps bust lottery scamNews Story
Foreign lottery schemes may be fleecing Americans out of as much as a billion dollars every year. The problem is so vast, congress is hearing testimony on the matter. Often suspects are overseas, and that's a challenge for law enforcement. But here's a case where a perceptive postal employee helped bring a suspect to justice right here in the United States. Something is not right here. Why are you getting all these Express Mail packages from all over the US? Mary Santiago asked the ri
Jun 17, 2013, 11:33 am - Lottery News

N.Y. store clerk accused of stealing lottery ticketsNews Story
A Glen Head, New York, convenience store clerk stole about $64,000 in scratch-off lottery tickets from the business over a three-month period, Nassau County police said Tuesday. Donna King, 48, of 26 Clement St., Glen Cove, faces a charge of second-degree grand larceny and was arraigned Tuesday at First District Court in Hempstead, where bail was set at $2,500 bond or $1,250 cash, records show. She's due back in court Thursday. From February through May, King worked at the counter of the S
May 29, 2013, 7:54 am - Lottery News

Three NY store clerks held in theft of $75,000 lottery ticketNews Story
He was a Guatemalan immigrant who spoke little English and had a fondness for scratch-off lottery tickets; they were two clerks at a Long Island gas station who saw an opportunity. When the clerks scanned Marvin Choy Nij's Take 5 lottery ticket and gave him $774, congratulating him on his windfall, he never suspected the real worth of his lucky ticket: $74,892, which the clerks, Yalcin Nergiz, 41, and Yunis Ozturk, 33, promptly cashed in for themselves, the Suffolk County district attorney, T
May 8, 2013, 10:33 pm - Lottery News

Iowa woman tries to cash stolen lottery ticketsNews Story
A Des Moines, Iowa, woman tried to cash voided Iowa Lottery tickets she stole while working at a company hired to shred old tickets, police said. Chandi Kelly Ramirez, 38, was charged with forgery of a lottery ticket. Ramirez worked at International Paper, which has a document destruction and recycling division in Des Moines, police reports show. An Iowa Lottery employee told police International Paper employees picked up a large quantity of lottery tickets from their warehouse on March
Apr 19, 2013, 9:45 am - Lottery News

Former MD Lottery employee charged with theft of lottery ticketsNews Story
Claimed $67,000 in winnings before he was caught A former Maryland Lottery official has been indicted for stealing tickets and collecting tens of thousands of dollars from the winnings, officials said on Thursday. Mark Barron Hantski, 59, of Lothian, a former Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency employee, collected $67,000 in winnings after stealing tickets from the Maryland Lottery, officials said in a news release. Officials say that the Grand Jury for Anne Arundel County formal
Apr 19, 2013, 9:33 am - Lottery News

Judge throws out some charges against lottery-thieving brothersNews Story
An Onondaga County Court judge who dismissed attempted grand larceny charges against two brothers accused of stealing a winning $5 million lottery ticket in 2006 ruled the crime was beyond the statute of limitations. Judge Joseph Fahey upheld other charges brought against Andy Ashkar, 34, and Nayel Ashkar, 36, who are accused of taking a scratch-off lottery ticket from a customer at their father's convenience store on Oct. 27, 2006. Prosecutors contended that because the brothers waited to
Apr 16, 2013, 7:35 am - Lottery News

UK shopkeeper guilty of lottery fraudNews Story
A shopkeeper from Gravesend, a town in northwest Kent, England, has been found guilty of trying to con a lottery syndicate [pool] out of nearly 80,000 (US$120,000) in winnings. Imran Pervais, 26, misled the winning group into thinking they had won 10 when in fact they had scooped 79,887 after matching five balls and the bonus ball. He was convicted by a jury at Maidstone crown court of fraud by false representation following a two-day trial and he will be sentenced at a later date. Dete
Apr 4, 2013, 5:02 am - Lottery News