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A COUPLE was arrested after they allegedly stole a winning lottery ticket worth $3million and tried to cash it in earlier this year, officials said.
While working as a cashier at a liquor store in Lakeville, Massachusetts, Carly Nunes, 23, allegedly held onto a customer’s lottery ticket back in January.
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District Attorney Timothy Cruz said the man who bought the tickets accidentally left them in the store, leaving them in the lottery terminal tray.
Security footage inside the store captured the moment another customer let Nunes know about the tickets, which she took and put behind the counter, said Cruz.
The man who bought the ticket tried to look for it to confirm the purchase, said Cruz, however, he gave up when he couldn’t find it.
Later that night, the numbers on one of the man’s Mass Millions tickets were chosen for the $3million jackpot.
A few days later, Nunes and her boyfriend, Joseph Reddem, 32, who also works at the liquor store, reportedly tried to cash the ticket in at the Massachusetts State Lottery headquarters.
Lottery employees confirmed the ticket, said Cruz, but they became skeptical after Nunes was overheard arguing with Reddem over his share of the money.
Nunes allegedly told Reddem that she would “only pay him $200,000” from the jackpot, the investigation found.
The ticket was also torn and burned, which Nunes said happened by accident when she tried to remove it from her wallet and mistakenly placed it on a pipe.
During an investigation, Nunes claimed she bought the ticket near the end of her shift on the day it was sold.
However, investigators saw the surveillance footage of the customer buying the ticket and Nunes changed her story, saying she had “inadvertently obtained the winning ticket.”
Nunes has been charged with larceny from a building, attempted larceny, presentation of a false claim, and witness intimidation.
Reddem was charged with attempted extortion.
The man who actually bought the winning ticket was tracked down by detectives nearly a month later.
According to Cruz, the man didn’t know millions of dollars had been potentially stolen from him.
His ticket will be honored by the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission, said Cruz.
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