Prosecutors released new details Tuesday in the case of a Massachusetts store clerk and her co-worker who allegedly conspired to steal a winning $3 million lottery ticket from a customer.
The Plymouth District Attorney's Office announced last month that the clerk, 23-year-old Carly Nunes, of Lakeville, and her coworker, 32-year-old Joseph Reddem, of Randolph, had been indicted in connection with the scheme.
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Nunes was indicted and originally slated to be arraigned on June 12 when she defaulted and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Brockton police and state police located her in Brockton early Tuesday morning and she was taken into custody.
She is charged with larceny from a building, attempted larceny, presentation of a false claim and witness intimidation. She pleaded not guilty on Wednesday and was ordered held on $10,000 cash bail. She is scheduled to return to court on July 26.
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Reddem pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to a charge of attempted extortion and was released on personal recognizance bail. He is also scheduled to return to court on July 26.
The charges followed a four-month investigation by Lakeville police, state police and the state lottery commission.
Prosecutors said the incident began on Jan. 17 when a man entered the store formerly known as Savas Liquors on Bedford Street in Lakeville and purchased a bag of barbecue potato chips, two Massachusetts State Lottery Quick Picks for the Mega Millions lottery and two for the Mass Cash lottery. The man added a multiplier to his Mega Millions ticket to increase the jackpot prize.
Nunes, the checkout counter clerk, put the order into the lottery terminal and printed two lottery tickets. She then returned to the cash register and rang up the man's order, totaling $12.
The man left the store and drove home with the chips, but accidentally left his lottery tickets behind at the store. That night, his Mega Millions ticket numbers were announced as the winning numbers, which would have won him a $3 million prize. After leaving the store and realizing he no longer had his tickets, the man briefly searched for them but assumed they were lost.
About 45 minutes after the man had left, prosecutors said another customer entered to buy five lottery tickets. Nunes rang up the transaction and printed the lottery tickets. The other customer realized two extra tickets had been printed and gave the extra two back to Nunes. She took the tickets and said they must have belonged to "him," meaning the man who had purchased the barbecue potato chips.
Two days later, prosecutors said Reddem, a coworker of Nunes' at Savas Liquors, drove Nunes and her boyfriend to Massachusetts State Lottery Headquarters in Dorchester to redeem the lottery prize. The ticket was torn and appeared to be burned. Nunes wrote up and submitted her claim for the winning prize. A state lottery customer service representative scanned the ticket and determined it was worth $3 million.
"When informed, Nunes and her boyfriend embraced and celebrated," prosecutors said in a press release.
A short time later, prosecutors said Nunes and Reddem were seen on lottery surveillance video arguing in the lobby. Reddem allegedly made extortion demands of the jackpot and Nunes informed him she would "only pay him $200,000."
The arguments overheard by lottery officials, coupled with the condition of the ticket, led state lottery investigators to interview Nunes, who told them she had purchased the winning tickets toward the end of her shift on Jan. 17. She said she mistakenly tore the ticket when removing it from her wallet and the burn marks were the result of her accidentally placing the ticket on a pipe. Lottery officials told Nunes they were opening an investigation and that she would rceive the jackpot prize at the conclusion of their investigation. They contacted state police and a criminal investigation began.
Surveillance video obtained from Savas Liquors confirmed that the man who bought the potato chips and not Nunes had purchased the winning lottery ticket. During a subsequent interview, Nunes no longer claimed to have bought the winning ticket herself, saying instead that she had inadvertently obtained it.
It was nearly a month before the man who originally purchased the ticket realized his mistake in leaving it behind at Savas Liquors. He was finally located on Feb. 13 after investigators posted flyers with photos of the man taken from surveillance videos, canvassed the Lakeville area and questioned patrons about the man's identity.
