Woman gets 30 days for stealing lottery tickets

Tuesday, May 15, 2007 posted 12:08 PM EDT

NEWARK, Ohio -- A Heath woman was sentenced to 30 days in jail and three years of community control on Monday after she admitted to stealing lottery tickets she knew were winners.

Courtney L. Carson, 37, was found guilty of grand theft, a fourth-degree felony, after confessing to scanning lottery tickets' bar codes to see if they were winners while working at Heath Carryout between Jan. 15 and April 14, 2006.

Carson, last known address 48 Carey Lane, then cashed the winning tickets elsewhere.

An inventory of the Irving Wick Drive store's lottery tickets revealed about $5,300 worth of lottery tickets were missing, Licking County Assistant Prosecutor Duke Frost said previously.

Frost said as far as authorities know, Carson didn't sell the losing tickets to the store's customers.

Mardele Cohen, director of communications for the Ohio Lottery Commission, said an instant ticket must be scratched to determine if it is a winner -- either the playing field or the area covering the bar code.

Carson also was ordered to complete 100 hours of community service.

Related Links
	Lottery News & Stories
	Ohio Lottery Results
	Search Past Ohio Lottery Winning Numbers