Mississippi men tried cashing in lottery ticket after gluing on the winning numbers, officials say

Jan 7, 2020, 7:12 am (43 comments)

Mississippi Lottery

Two Mississippi men are in custody after being accused of trying to claim a $100,000 lottery prize with a fake scratch-off lottery ticket.

Mississippi Lottery Corp. spokeswoman Meg Annison said the two individuals came to the lottery headquarters in Flowood Monday morning seeking to claim the prize.

Annison said lottery officials immediately determined the ticket had been altered. It appeared glue had been used.

Annison said the Lottery Corp. has measures in place to ensure a ticket is legitimate, including a bar code.

Sgt. Adam Nelson of the Flowood Police Department said about 9:20 a.m., Flowood police received a call from the Mississippi Lottery Corp. in reference to two adult males attempting to pass a fake lottery ticket.

Flowood officers arrived on scene moments later and took both subjects into custody. After speaking with lottery officials, officers learned that the suspects presented a $100,000 ticket that had been altered by gluing the winning numbers on the ticket that matched the prize. The ticket was signed and presented to the commission for payment.

Police arrested Odis Latham, 47, and Russell Sparks, 48, both of Columbus. They were charged with conspiracy to commit a felony and uttering a counterfeit instrument over $1,000. Latham was also charged with false ID Information. Both were held Monday after without bond at the Rankin County Jail. Their initial court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday.

Mississippi's lottery kicked off Nov. 25 with scratch-off lottery tickets. Powerball and Mega Millions ticket sales will begin Jan. 30.

Clarion Ledger

Comments

CDanaT's avatarCDanaT

Green laugh

Not bad Mississippi, had the lottery for 6 weeks and now have your first 2 contestants for the idiot-criminal award.

Good for you

reddog's avatarreddog

Here's your sign !! Agree with stupid

wander73's avatarwander73

People are desperate and will try anything.   Sad really is.

music*'s avatarmusic*

Quote: Originally posted by CDanaT on Jan 7, 2020

Green laugh

Not bad Mississippi, had the lottery for 6 weeks and now have your first 2 contestants for the idiot-criminal award.

Good for you

I Agree! CDanaT.  These two players will be the first to be punished since MS Lottery began. They will be made examples of what not to do. 

  Here in California we have SLED. Security and Law Enforcement Division.

noise-gate

Only in America..

db101's avatardb101

How much of a backwoods rube do you have to be to not know the barcode is everything? I'm glad some of the lottery profits go to edukashun.

Stack47

the suspects presented a $100,000 ticket that had been altered by gluing the winning numbers on the ticket that matched the prize. 

Probably get by trying to cash a $25 or less value ticket and maybe $100, but $100,000; what were these fools thinking? Even if they don't go to prison this time, they eventually will commit another brainless crime. It's inevitable.

Raven62's avatarRaven62

Quote: Originally posted by noise-gate on Jan 7, 2020

Only in America..

Sounds like something you would do.

paymentplan-man

Quote: Originally posted by noise-gate on Jan 7, 2020

Only in America..

I couldn't have said it any better myself.

noise-gate

Quote: Originally posted by Raven62 on Jan 7, 2020

Sounds like something you would do.

Something l would do?

Were we in kindergarten together, did l steal your lunch? Did l end up taking your prom date home?What is wrong with you Raven?

sweetie7398's avatarsweetie7398

SillyROFL

cottoneyedjoe's avatarcottoneyedjoe

It's early, but this might end up being the funniest lottery news of 2020. I wonder how many times this happens all over the country and lottery officials don't bother calling the police because it's just so pathetic it's funny.

I'd wager these two were being belligerent about it, and that pissed off the official enough that he/she called the cops. But what if they had laughed it off when they got caught and pretended like it was a joke? There's a chance the official would only told them to beat it but not have called the cops.

sully16's avatarsully16

Quote: Originally posted by CDanaT on Jan 7, 2020

Green laugh

Not bad Mississippi, had the lottery for 6 weeks and now have your first 2 contestants for the idiot-criminal award.

Good for you

hehehehehe, hilarious. 

reddog's avatarreddog

Quote: Originally posted by noise-gate on Jan 7, 2020

Something l would do?

Were we in kindergarten together, did l steal your lunch? Did l end up taking your prom date home?What is wrong with you Raven?

Confused

hearsetrax's avatarhearsetrax

Cheers

dpoly1's avatardpoly1

Crazy

Because that wouldn't be obvious LOL!

Loosechange45

they needed shirts that  that say I m with stupid. WOW

cottoneyedjoe's avatarcottoneyedjoe

Quote: Originally posted by noise-gate on Jan 7, 2020

Something l would do?

Were we in kindergarten together, did l steal your lunch? Did l end up taking your prom date home?What is wrong with you Raven?

You are arguing with an AI chat bot, lol.

I don't think Mississippi has anything on California when it comes to dumb criminals. You know ours can't even speak English. LOL

noise-gate

Obsession: The state of being obsessed with someone or something.

Big Joey

After just reading this, I'm laughing so hard. This is funny, really, really funny. Lottery tickets have barcodes, not the numbers on the face of the ticket. LOL

grwurston's avatargrwurston

This says it all.  https://youtu.be/CosD7h2703o

partlycloudy07

Quote: Originally posted by grwurston on Jan 7, 2020

This says it all.  https://youtu.be/CosD7h2703o

I seen tater once lol what a hoot ....the other guys should make dumb crook news

brina5eva's avatarbrina5eva

Only in Mississippi

Coin Toss's avatarCoin Toss

Before Mississippi got the lottery these guys probably put a $100 bill in a copier machine, made copies, and then put the 100 on fives, tens and twenties on real bills. 

"Sir this $100 bill you gave me has Lincoln's picture on it".

ekem6078's avatarekem6078

Green laughStupid is, as Stupid does. 

Vergie6

This reminded me of when someone posted a picture of a so called winning p3 ticket on the NC thread one time &

had tried to photoshop it so it would look like the winning no. was on the ticket but left some of one of the other

numbers on the ticket showing they were using...it was so funny & of course it was pointed out to them...they had me fooled but when the person who caught it showed the number they left on then I saw it....they almost got by with it....it was sort of like a shadow of one.

AND this person thinks they can outsmart the lottery is unbelievable!

wander73's avatarwander73

It's not worth calling the police.  They should be banned from playing the lottery.   Then someone should call the gambling hotline.  The number does work and will put someone's name and info in it so they can't collect anything.

TheMeatman2005's avatarTheMeatman2005

Quote: Originally posted by grwurston on Jan 7, 2020

This says it all.  https://youtu.be/CosD7h2703o

I'm going to be rich one day! The day I can figure out how to fix STUPID!

Bleudog101

Please do NOT put wrong information about the gambling hotline out there ( 1-800-GAMBLER).   Just called them and she said you cannot do as you say.   The individual has to call and do this themselves.   IDK just relaying what they just told me.  Perhaps anyone could call with an individual's information and get it done that way.

OTOH banning yourself from a casino, from what I'm told can lead to your arrest if you 'trespass' and gamble.   We go quite often and have 'heard' that if you were to win a jackpot and on a self banned list, they will not pay out a jackpot.   I'll be sure to ask my Host about that.

Stack47

Quote: Originally posted by wander73 on Jan 8, 2020

It's not worth calling the police.  They should be banned from playing the lottery.   Then someone should call the gambling hotline.  The number does work and will put someone's name and info in it so they can't collect anything.

They were charged with conspiracy to commit a felony and uttering a counterfeit instrument over $1,000.

There is a fine line proving a conspiracy to do anything making it very interesting to see how this one turns out. Clerks and store owners were banned from selling tickets for various reasons but stopping someone over the legal age from buying tickets would be next to impossible. 

Have no idea how the "gambling hot line" works, but you can't just call and force them to add a name to a list with zero proof. And while it's very obvious these two tried to cash a counterfeit ticket, they will still get their day in court and are innocent until found guilty.

KY Floyd's avatarKY Floyd

"How much of a backwoods rube do you have to be to not know the barcode is everything?

I'm pretty sure that understanding how lottery tickets work is something you have to learn rather than an instinct we're born with, so there's no reason the general public shouldn't think that having the right numbers is enough.

What does take an impressive degree of stupidity is gluing numbers on a losing ticket and thinking that's going to work. I haven't seen a picture of the ticket, but I'm guessing that trying to cash it is a bit like entering a photography contest with this:

db101's avatardb101

Quote: Originally posted by KY Floyd on Jan 8, 2020

"How much of a backwoods rube do you have to be to not know the barcode is everything?

I'm pretty sure that understanding how lottery tickets work is something you have to learn rather than an instinct we're born with, so there's no reason the general public shouldn't think that having the right numbers is enough.

What does take an impressive degree of stupidity is gluing numbers on a losing ticket and thinking that's going to work. I haven't seen a picture of the ticket, but I'm guessing that trying to cash it is a bit like entering a photography contest with this:

Yeah, funny. But these fine gentlemen are in their 30s so I stand by the backwoods rube comment. If you've been out in the world that long you should know. It reminds me of when I worked at a store with prices stored in the barcode system AND stuck on every item. Teenagers would swap a cheap price sticker with an expensive one and try to fool us at the register. They didn't remember we always scanned the barcodes and their little scams got busted.

cottoneyedjoe's avatarcottoneyedjoe

Quote: Originally posted by db101 on Jan 8, 2020

Yeah, funny. But these fine gentlemen are in their 30s so I stand by the backwoods rube comment. If you've been out in the world that long you should know. It reminds me of when I worked at a store with prices stored in the barcode system AND stuck on every item. Teenagers would swap a cheap price sticker with an expensive one and try to fool us at the register. They didn't remember we always scanned the barcodes and their little scams got busted.

The article says they're 47 and 48 years old, that's even worse, LOL.

Artist77's avatarArtist77

Quote: Originally posted by Raven62 on Jan 7, 2020

Sounds like something you would do.

Banana

greatguy's avatargreatguy

Hit With Stick Mississi--iStop

noise-gate

Quote: Originally posted by Stack47 on Jan 8, 2020

They were charged with conspiracy to commit a felony and uttering a counterfeit instrument over $1,000.

There is a fine line proving a conspiracy to do anything making it very interesting to see how this one turns out. Clerks and store owners were banned from selling tickets for various reasons but stopping someone over the legal age from buying tickets would be next to impossible. 

Have no idea how the "gambling hot line" works, but you can't just call and force them to add a name to a list with zero proof. And while it's very obvious these two tried to cash a counterfeit ticket, they will still get their day in court and are innocent until found guilty.

You are correct, they are innocent until proven guilty. Recall that Tipton was denying profusely that he masterminded the trickery, even going so far as say " he would be a genius "'to pull it off. He eventually folded & the rest is history. These guys could say that they " found this ticket on the ground" & considered it legit. They might just pull it off,  l mean if the leader of the free world can talk about Windmills & tell Americans they flushing their toilets too many times, anything is possible.

Stack47

Quote: Originally posted by noise-gate on Jan 8, 2020

You are correct, they are innocent until proven guilty. Recall that Tipton was denying profusely that he masterminded the trickery, even going so far as say " he would be a genius "'to pull it off. He eventually folded & the rest is history. These guys could say that they " found this ticket on the ground" & considered it legit. They might just pull it off,  l mean if the leader of the free world can talk about Windmills & tell Americans they flushing their toilets too many times, anything is possible.

I was thinking because the lottery is new, it's not a bad idea to discourage any wanna-be scam artists by loading up on the charges. Should know this outcome in a month or two.

Probably have to wait 11 months to know the other outcome. LOL

noise-gate

Quote: Originally posted by Stack47 on Jan 9, 2020

I was thinking because the lottery is new, it's not a bad idea to discourage any wanna-be scam artists by loading up on the charges. Should know this outcome in a month or two.

Probably have to wait 11 months to know the other outcome. LOL

That was just the beginning. Wait til someone steals rolls of scratchers, performing cartwheels over their " windfall" until..

Jpaddy

They had to sniff some before deciding to use it for their "Ingenious" scam.

Image result for sniffing glue meme

Bleudog101

Quote: Originally posted by noise-gate on Jan 9, 2020

That was just the beginning. Wait til someone steals rolls of scratchers, performing cartwheels over their " windfall" until..

Let them steal a roll of scratchers that haven't been activated!

In a few weeks Powerball and Mega Millions go on sale there...does anyone else think like me and that it won't significantly, if @ all, rollovers??

KY Floyd's avatarKY Floyd

Adding Mississippi will increase the number of possible players by less than 1%. Even if they buy tickets at two or three times the average rate that will increase sales by less than 2 or 3%.  If we call it an even 3% the current PB cash jackpot would be about $6 million higher, which is a nice chunk of change, but more likely we'd be looking at an extra $2 million after 10 weeks of rollovers.

Based on the current sales estimates a 3% increase in sales would reduce the chances of a rollover from 92.85% to 92.65% for Wednesday's drawing. Statistically that's a meaningful difference, but it doesn't mean much in the real world. Based on the 15 PB jackpots that have been won in the last 2 years a 3% increase in sales would mean one extra win about every 4.4 years. At 1% we could expect an extra winner about every 13 years.

Karen Nathan

A business owner of a Store that sold Lottery tickets said that a few of his Employees stole scratch off Lottery tickets from his store and "Activated," them without ever paying for them or something like that. He said the Thieving Employees said they planned to pay him back with the winnings from the stolen Lottery Tickets. Like WTF? He had an ingenious idea. He pretended to forgive them if they would sign a paper promising to pay him back what they stole. Like idiots, they signed the Paper and he turned in the signed paper to the Court and got them prosecuted for Theft. The paper was surprise, surprise them confessing they stole from him. They were idiots to sign a paper and not see how the boss was tricking them into a signed confession. They might have not been prosecuted had they refused to sign a paper.

Greenfox's avatarGreenfox

Quote: Originally posted by Karen Nathan on Jan 16, 2020

A business owner of a Store that sold Lottery tickets said that a few of his Employees stole scratch off Lottery tickets from his store and "Activated," them without ever paying for them or something like that. He said the Thieving Employees said they planned to pay him back with the winnings from the stolen Lottery Tickets. Like WTF? He had an ingenious idea. He pretended to forgive them if they would sign a paper promising to pay him back what they stole. Like idiots, they signed the Paper and he turned in the signed paper to the Court and got them prosecuted for Theft. The paper was surprise, surprise them confessing they stole from him. They were idiots to sign a paper and not see how the boss was tricking them into a signed confession. They might have not been prosecuted had they refused to sign a paper.

Had similar happen years ago at a store where I worked. They got I don't know how many books of the first $20 scratchers, activated them and went store hopping in neighboring counties to cash them in. They didn't have to sign anything though. The security cameras I set up for owners was enough. Too many people will work harder at not working than they would at actually working. Even one is too many as far as I'm concerned. Had banned substances not been involved, it probably wouldn't have happened. The girl wasn't a bad person, just had a boyfriend that was too much of a boy and not much of a friend. It was his idea, but she didn't have to go along with it. Not thinking clearly rarely pays off I reckon. Went to court, but don't really know what happened afterward. Other than there was a conviction.

End of comments
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