Month-Long Lottery Winner Search Has Happy Ending

Most of us have been there, we’ve bought a scratchcard or lottery ticket and couldn’t really understand the results, so what do we do? Hand the ticket over to the cashier to get them to confirm the results, and we instantly take what we’re being told – that’s the power of trust…

…but what happens if you have someone behind that counter who is ruthless? It’s not worth thinking about but there are some heartless people out there who would pull off the ultimate lie just to take home somebody else’s jackpot winnings!

And one of those very people is a 23 year old Massachusetts store clerk who deliberately obtained a winning lottery ticket with a view to splitting the funds with a co-worker!

Last week, a grand jury returned indictments charging 23-year-old Carly Nunes with one count of larceny from a building, attempted larceny, presentation of a false claim, and witness intimidation, the Plymouth District Attorney’s Office said in a news release. Her co-worker, 32-year-old Joseph Reddem, was charged with one count of attempted extortion, prosecutors said. The pair are expected to be arraigned at a later undisclosed date.

So, what happened?

On January 17^th of this year, prosecutors revealed that an unidentified manvisited a Lakeville liquor store to purchase a bag of barbecue potato chips plus 4 lottery tickets — two Massachusetts State Lottery Quick Picks for the Mega Millions lottery and two for the Mass Cash lottery…

…the investigation showed that the unidentified man opted for the Mega Millions multiplier to further boost the jackpot prizes shown, and Nunes can be seen on CCTV printing those lottery tickets and ringing up his total bill of $12. But the man left without his lottery tickets.

Less than an hour later another customer purchased 5 lottery tickets but Nunes handed over 7. The customer handed two back with prosecutors stating that Nunes took the tickets and said that they must have belonged to him, the victim. Later that evening, the mystery man’s lottery numbers came up and his ticket was worth a cool $3million!

Nunes and her boyfriend waited 48 hours before attempting to cash in on someone else’s fortune for free, driving to Massachusetts State Lottery Headquarters, where the ticket, which was “torn and appeared to be burned,” was determined to be worth $3 million. But celebrations soon led to arrests when the pair were overheard arguing over how much they were going to get, and because of this the lottery decided to investigate.

Prosecutor said: “Lottery officials informed Nunes that they were opening an investigation and that she would receive the jackpot prize at the conclusion of that investigation. Lottery officials contacted Massachusetts State Police and an investigation commenced.”

Nunes was adamant she had purchased the tickets at the end of her shift on January 17^th, and the burn marks were accidental from her pipe. CCTV footage was obtained and confirmed her claims as a lie. It took a month to track down the mystery jackpot winner, who on February 13^th was told the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission would honour his $3m jackpot prize!

Source: “Massachusetts Store Slerk AndCo-Worker Indicted After Allegedly Stealing $3 Million Lottery Ticket”. May 18, 2023.