SAGINAW, Mich. — A 30-year-old woman who won two major Michigan Lottery prizes is accused of embezzling more than $300,000 from a local substance abuse and mental health treatment center during her time as an accountant there.
Both jackpots — one $20,000 and the other $60,000 — Nichol Evans won in late 2016 by playing online gambling games, according to Michigan Lottery articles.
Evans won the bigger prize while on a work break at DOT Caring Centers Inc., a local substance abuse and mental health treatment center where prosecutors say she embezzled more than $300,000.
"I was taking a break at work when I started playing the Queen of Diamonds game on my iPhone. When I saw the message pop-up on the screen that I had won $60,000 I took a screenshot just to make sure I was reading everything right," she told Michigan Lottery.
"When I ran into my boss' office he probably thought I was crazy, but when I showed him my phone he couldn't believe I had won either."
Evans was arraigned Thursday, Aug. 31, on one count embezzling more than $100,000, two counts uttering and publishing forged checks and one count of using a computer to commit a crime, according to a press release from the Saginaw County Prosecutor's Office.
All four charges are felonies, and the computer crimes and embezzlement charges carry up to 20 years in prison.
According to the prosecutor's office, Evans forged company checks and cashed them at various locations from early 2015 until June 2017.
An investigation revealed Evans' employer was missing more than $300,000, the prosecutor's office states. That investigation is ongoing.
On Nov. 21, 2016, Evans won $60,000 playing Michigan Lottery's Queen of Diamonds, an online game where players buy-in to flip cards that could result in money returned.
The $60,000 payout is the biggest possible in the game, and Evans is the only person to win it, according to Michigan Lottery records.
Two months before the big win, she won $20,000 while playing the game, according to Michigan Lottery.
In an interview following the $60,000 win, Evans told Michigan Lottery she planned to use the money to pay off student debt, make extra Christmas purchases and possibly take a Disney cruise.
Evans was given a $20,000 bond. She has since posted it.
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She had to go and ruin her life for what?
That was the last time she saw any of those lottery prizes.
My guess is that she has a gambling and drug problem.
.
For 300 thousand doggone samolians, that's what for.
And she was an Accountant.
I can't believe what some people, otherwise well-educated/responsible, will do.
I feel sorry for her actions. Just look at the difference between the two photos:
Then one is "Yippi I Ay". The second one is "oh good grief. I have a record that's here to stay."
Please LP members. Let this be a lesson to all of us.
Why did she have to do it? Why? Why?
(groppo, why do you have to be a pest? why? why?.
i may be an idiot, but liar and thief I am not.)
No kidding, at the rate she was going she probably would have won more then $300,000 already unless The $300,K was what she used to WIN the $80,?
If she was a half way decent accountant she could have made more then the $300,000 within a 2yr period, she Can't now or never again, who would give her an Accountant Job after this, that's one thing you don't ever do Is mess with someone elses MONEY!! BOZETTA
What a moron! Why embezzle money when you have magical/psychic powers that enable you to win any lottery "at will"?
Chalk one up for the sensible folks who enjoy transparency in releasing winners names! Otherwise we'd only know that she embazzled..
First she was embazzling long before she hit a major win.
Boggles my mind as I worked in corporate... Every penny (yes penny) was accounted for.
sorry but this business didn't keep an eye on the bean counter...
"Why? Why?"
'Avaritia facit bardus'....
Greed makes you stupid.
But Then Mix Greed + Drugs =
'premeditatio malorum'
(premeditation of evil).
When I read the title "Two-time Michigan Lottery winner accused of embezzling $300,000" I thought I was going to read about a lottery winner who had at least won a (life changing) couple of millions dollars and embezzling a measly $300K.
$80K of which federal and local governments take 30% before it is received could hardly be expected to change the character of someone willing to steal.
I wonder if that the kinds of winnings the guy claiming to have won the lottery 14 times is talking about.
It's a good thing she had some cash left over from her win to pay the $20K bond to get out of jail.
Gambling,drugs and Golden Corral.
SMH idiot!!!!