a florida couple He recently met with a representative from the state lottery, apparently expecting a huge payout, but instead was arrested on fraud charges.
On March 1, 36-year-old Kira Enders entered a Florida Lottery office in Pensacola and handed a lottery ticket to an employee. reportedly I won a 500X The Cash scratch-off ticket with a grand prize of $1 million. She also wrote on the back of the ticket, which reportedly states that tampering with a ticket could result in criminal prosecution.
agent immediately suspected a problem That’s because the ticket was later declared “non-winning.” It’s unclear whether the agency originally intended to investigate the issue with the ticket. But less than a week later, when Ms. Enders called for an update on her prize, she likely forced her agency’s hand.
Mr. Enders was invited to meet with Lottery’s special agent on March 11th. Enders and her boyfriend, 32-year-old Dakota Jones, drove to a designated meeting point. Rather than being handed large checks and leaving, the two were immediately separated and questioned about the tickets.
Apparently, the winning ticket was actually two separate tickets taped together and laminated together. Escambia Sheriff Chip Simmons said “two tickets” were “crudely” combined to try to produce a “million dollar winner.”
Enders and Jones also appear to have given significantly different explanations of the ticket pastiche. According to reports, Enders initially told police he couldn’t remember where he bought the ticket. She then bought it at Winn-Dixie, but it must have been a moment of lucidity because she later said it fell out of her car in the rain and split in half when it got wet. there is no.
She explained that she taped the two pieces together to fix the problem and not to deceive anyone, according to the affidavit.
She then allegedly expressed confusion when the serial numbers on both sides of the ticket did not match. “What, aren’t they going together?” she allegedly said. She also called her revelations about her serial number discrepancies “insane” and said her “spirit” had “broken down.”[n]” the affidavit said.
In contrast, Jones reportedly told investigators that he stumbled upon the winning lottery ticket while the couple was walking down the street. He claimed in the affidavit that the ticket was already torn when he found it, but he told his girlfriend that he would not tape it together or submit the taped ticket to the lottery agent because it would look “junk.” He said he advised:
Jones also allegedly told investigators that he and Enders were “honest people” and that he had no intention of winning the lottery early.”When they saw the ticket, they thought it was legitimate,” he said, according to his affidavit.
Enders and Jones are both charged with three counts of forgery or alteration of a lottery ticket with intent to defraud, transfer of a forged or altered state lottery ticket, and theft or grand larceny over $100,000. Mr. Enders was released on $20,000 bail and Mr. Jones was released on $17,500 bail. A hearing for both men is scheduled for May 10th.
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