Teenager tried to con lottery out of $175,000
Teenager tried to con lottery out of $175,000
A 19-year-old high school student, who tried to cheat Maryland Lottery officials out of $175,000 with a fraudulent ticket, was pleaded guilty Tuesday in Baltimore District Court.
John Gilbert Jr. was sentenced to 50 hours of community service and six months of probation for one count of presenting a fabricated ticket for payment, reported Baltimoresun.com.
Prosecutors said that Gilbert taped together the top half of a losing Mega Millions ticket with the bottom half of a ticket showing the winning numbers he played the day after the drawing.
The teenager showed his false ticket to officials at the Maryland State Lottery Agency in South Baltimore on Jan. 12 and demanded winnings of $175,000. But workers thought something was wrong and they decided to investigate the issue.
"The top half has the date, and the bottom half has codes built into it," said Assistant Attorney General David L. Goldberg, who prosecuted the case.
According to Goldberg, when lottery officials told Gilbert to leave the building, he resisted at first but later complied with their request. Days later the incident, Gilbert returned to the Lottery office with a letter typed and signed by him. The letter stated that his ticket was ‘legitimate’ and that he did not ‘like the way he had been treated’. Shortly after, he was arrested.
Officials, who examined Gilbert's ticket, found that the young scammer was wrong about the amount won. Gilbert geared his ticket to a winning ticket worth $26 million, not $175,000. "He didn't count in the Powerball," Goldberg said.
