SoCal man arrested after trying to cash $530,858 lotto ticket
Tuesday, June 27, 2006 posted 02:38 PM EDT
VENTURA, Calif. - Authorities arrested a man they say tried to claim a $530,858 lottery prize with a stolen ticket.
Sam Grair, 42, was charged with felony counts of grand theft, burglary and filing a false claim following his arrest on Friday, the district attorney's office said Monday.
Authorities say the episode began in February when a man named Robert Sehested scanned several Mega Millions lottery tickets at Camarillo's Crossroads Market and Liquor to see if he had won anything.
They allege that Grair, who worked as a clerk at the store, told Sehested his winning ticket was worth only a few dollars and suggested he use the proceeds to buy more tickets. Grair is accused of keeping the winning ticket for himself and then trying to claim the prize by presenting it to the California Lottery Commission office in Van Nuys.
Investigators from the lottery's Security and Law Enforcement Division concluded Grair had not bought the ticket after they interviewed him and reviewed surveillance videos from the store, which is standard procedure when large winnings are claimed.
Grair was being held on $500,000 bail at County Jail. He faces 19 years in prison if convicted of all counts.
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