Family crook is caught red-handed
By Kate Northrop
Authorities arrested a Texas woman Monday after she stole a $1 million winning lottery ticket from her cousin in New York, tricking him with forged paperwork.
Iris Amador Argueta, 32, of Houston, misled her New York cousin to believe that she would cash in the winnings on his behalf so he could remain anonymous.
According to Nassau County prosecutors, she also forged lottery documents to convince her relative that he had only won a small fraction of the big prize.
Last October, the lucky winner hailing from Long Island purchased a $5 New York Lottery "Hold 'Em Poker" scratch-off ticket at a 7-Eleven in Glen Cove. That one ticket turned out to be a $1 million winner.
Prosecutors said that he reached out to Argueta and asked her to claim the prize for him in exchange for $50,000 to protect his identity. New York does not allow individual lottery winners to claim winnings anonymously, although some winners have hidden their identities from the public by claiming under LLCs.
She then drove to New York to retrieve the ticket from her cousin and filed a mail-in claim due to COVID-19 precautions.
Weeks after the handoff, Argueta returned to the original winner and gave him a forged note that showed he had only won $20,000. She also presented him with $13,436 in cash, saying that the state took the rest in taxes.
"The defendant exploited her cousin's trust, allegedly lying and manipulating him with the aim of pocketing the lion's share of his $1 million winning lottery ticket for herself," Acting DA Joyce Smith said.
The amount she gave him, however, conflicted with the press release that the Lottery had published to announce Argueta's supposed win, which stated that she took a $537,440 lump sum payout.
When her cousin confronted her about the blatant lie, prosecutors said, she responded by threatening him with legal action if he continued to contact her.
The empty threat did not make it very far. Nassau County officials announced that they already recovered over half the stolen prize money from Argueta.
"Thanks to a great working partnership with the Glen Cove Police Department, we've recovered more than $300,000 in allegedly stolen funds and will vigorously prosecute this case," Smith proclaimed.
Argueta was arraigned Tuesday on felony charges of grand larceny and possession of forged documents. She also faces 15 years in prison.
Anonymous from publicity would have solved this from the get go! Dump RNG too while you're at it.
You'd have to be a dirty, no-good, low-down dog to do something like that.
I love dogs. A dog would never do you like that.
cousin seems to have taken the tRUMP route
cheat cheat and more cheat
Shouldn't you be out clubbing baby seals or something, eh?
Thanks for that genuine truth.
This is lottery news though, so I'm curious how the new Yorker didn't have the wherewithal to know the value. Clearly advising of a 50k cut leads one to believe the value was higher then the 20k .
I love transparency! As should most folks. The out of state cousin could learn a thing or two about being honest AND transparent.
They don't have the wherewithal to know much of anything up there.
Look at who they elect to be their leaders.
A bunch o' schmucks.
Honestly I could almost see my Sister doing this to me and not bat an eyelash over it. (She doesn't even play lottery but says 'I have to give her some if I win'.) Sure thing.
Glad she got caught...some serious disowning from this criminal.
Some wimmins can be vicious, Bleudog.
I know a guy went up north to work and got a call from his Mama sayin' his sister burnt his house down. He asked why she done it and she said his sister said cuz she was in a bad mood. He's got an old pickup truck with a cap on the back and he's livin' in it now. Gonna be a long hard winter for him. His sister's in the hoosegow.
Winners should have the right to remain anonymous, it works in other countries, such as England and Australia.
Silence is golden..............Shouldn't have said a word to begin with...$50 grand could have easily gotten a lawyer and a trust, one would reasonably think.....
I know what you mean.
I'm glad she got caught. She sounds like a rotten excuse for a human being to pull something like this on her own family.
What's worse is there are some who would actually praise her for what she did.
Hopefully she'll pay for her crime.
* Some of these folks downvoting your response were at the Capitol on Jan 6th. They just haven't been rounded up ..yet!
Goes to show that, sometimez yo own kinfolkz can be the worst ones...