Massachusetts store clerk and co-worker accused of stealing $3 million lottery ticket

A Massachusetts store clerk and her co-worker have been charged with trying to steal a $3 million winning lottery ticket left by a customer.

Last week, a grand jury returned indictments charging 23-year-old Carly Nunes with one count each of burglary from a building, attempted burglary, making false statements and witness intimidation, the Plymouth District Attorney’s Office said. news release.

Her colleague, 32-year-old Joseph Redham, was charged with one count of attempted extortion, prosecutors said. The pair are expected to be charged at a later date, it has not been announced.

An investigation revealed that an unknown person entered a Lakeville liquor store on Jan. 17 and purchased a bag of barbecue potato chips along with four lottery tickets — two Massachusetts Mega Millions lottery tickets and two Mass Cash lottery tickets, prosecutors said. .

The man added a multiplier to his Mega Millions ticket to increase his jackpot winnings, and Nunes, who was working the cash register, placed the order and printed two lottery tickets, prosecutors said. She returned to the register and rang up the victim’s order for $12, but he left the store without the lottery tickets, according to prosecutors.

45 minutes after the man left his tickets, Nunez called another customer who bought five lottery tickets. Prosecutors said the other customer realized he had been given two extra tickets and returned them to Nunez.

“Nunez took the tickets and said they must have belonged to ‘him,’ referring to the victim,” prosecutors said.

The person who left the tickets briefly searched for them, but then assumed he had lost them. Later that evening, the numbers on his Mass Millions tickets were announced as the winning numbers for the $3 million jackpot, prosecutors said.

Two days later, Redham drove Nunes and her boyfriend to Massachusetts lottery headquarters, where the ticket, which had been “torn up and appeared to be burned,” was determined to be worth $3 million.

“Núñez and her boyfriend hugged and celebrated,” prosecutors said. But soon after, Nunes and Redham were overheard arguing about the amount of money Redham would get, with Nunes telling him that she would “only pay him $200,000,” according to prosecutors.

Because of the dispute and the condition of the ticket, Massachusetts Lottery investigators decided to question Nunes.

Nunes told investigators that she purchased the winning tickets at the end of her shift on Jan. 17, and said the condition of the tickets was because she mistakenly tore them when she took them out of her purse. According to her, the burn marks were because she accidentally put the ticket on the tube, prosecutors said.

“Lottery officials informed Nunes that they were opening an investigation and that she would receive the jackpot at the conclusion of that investigation,” prosecutors said. “Lottery officials have contacted the Massachusetts State Police and an investigation has begun.”

Investigators found surveillance footage confirming that Nunes did not buy the winning ticket. In subsequent interviews, Nunez changed her story and said that she “unintentionally received” the winning ticket.

Investigators worked for a month to find the man who left behind his winning tickets and finally found him on Feb. 13, prosecutors said.

The Massachusetts Lottery Commission says it intends to settle a man’s claims for a $3 million jackpot.