A Morgan City, Louisiana man whose $100,000 Powerball ticket was allegedly stolen finally got his money on Tuesday.
Charles Stone, 33, received the check at the Louisiana Lottery's Metairie office, eight days after state troopers arrested three people for allegedly altering the ticket and trying to claim the cash for themselves. A fourth suspect was arrested Jan. 29.
"I feel very lucky," said Stone, adding that he plans to "invest some, spend some" of his winnings.
Stone bought the ticket at a Houma convenience store, signed it and took it to a convenience store in his home town of Morgan City to see if it was a winner.
Four employees of that store allegedly told Stone it was not a winner, then scratched off his signature and replaced it with one of their own.
Hang Nguyen, 43, of Amelia, Nhat Nguyen, 25, of New Orleans, and Ngoc Tran, 46, of Amelia, were arrested when they tried to cash it in. Hoang Nguyen, 21, of Amelia, surrendered three days later.
I still dont understand something about these retailers who sell lottery tickets.Do lottery commission do criminal background check before entrusting them with the sales of lottery tickets or anyone can sell tickets once they own a convienance store?I am asking because retailers are getting too cunning around nowaday.All they ever want is to rob other people of their opportunity to make a difference in their lives.Sometimes,when i read such stories,i askmyself what runs through other people mind when they tried to cheat others.I hope the law take it due course and persecute them to the fullest.BEWARE PEOPLE<TRUST EVERYONE<BUT NEVER TRUST THE DEVIL IN THEM!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow.. ... shows signing your ticket *is* important .....
even someone scratching it off ... they can still figure it's yours. o.o
I am sure Charles Stone bought the $100,000 ticket, but I am wondering how the state lottery confirmed that it was him who bought the ticket. Being that his name was scribbled over, how did they know whose name was on the ticket? I mean anybody could have walked into the lottery office and said, "hey that was my ticket those other guys tried to cash in."
Let's see if I understand this...
A guy gets a Powerball ticket and has 5 of the numbers except for the Powerball, and he takes some convienience store clerks word that it isn't a winner ????
How moronic ??
I guess in addition to signing the ticket, you should make a photocopy before giving it to convenience store criminals. I guess even better, you should bypass the criminals and go right to lottery headquarters if it's over $600.
Imagine how often this happens to people who win small amounts - the guy tells the little old lady the $40 ticket is a loser, tosses ticket in the trash behind the counter and cashes it himself after she leaves.
If they say the ticket didn't win what you thought, always insist on getting it back, and report the incident to the police, lottery owners, store owners in hopes they will soon get fired and lose their license.
Curt777,
I agree that is pretty stupid. What is worse a guy from Indiana won a $12 Million Powerball jackpot a couple of months ago and did the same thing!!!!!!! He is lucky there was an honorable clerk behind the counter. These examples stress the point why I would never let anybody else check my tickets until I have checked them first (my computer never lies) and I wouldn't take any ticket over $600 to a lottery retailer.
just cant believe people sometime....they love to set themselves up to be victims... and after all this time of growing up and lessons learned, still trust somebody elses word when it comes to their money.
Signing the ticket doesn't matter if your family is politically connected with people who influence over employees that work with the lottery as in my case in NJ and NY. Moreover, I signed my ticket and when I went to see the ticket although you can tell it had been wet, as you can when paper has been wet, my signature apparently had been removed by the use of a chemical and replaced with Melvin Milligan's signature, by the way who is a deceased person. All in who you know. Money influences people everywhere into corruption especially when they think they can get away with it. However, everything hidden will be revealed.
Signing your ticket doesnt always protect the owner, especially when the thief has political connections and can influence employees of the lottery. Money influences people everywhere into corruption, especially when they think they can get away with it. I had signed my ticket, however, when I went to inspect it, although it was obvious that the ticket had been wet, my signature had been removed and replaced with that of Melvin Milligan, who by the way is a deceased person Ive since learned that there is a chemical that can remove the signature. SO those people just needed the right help and be dealing with NY or NJ lottery. Just ask Al Oliver