Iris Amador Argueta, 32, faces up to 15 years in prison after authorities arrested and charged her for unlawful money in her cousin’s $1m New York Lotto Hold ‘Em Poker prize-winning ticket.
The Nassau-County District Attorney (NCDA) office charged Argueta on Tuesday this week, the very same day she surrendered to the Glen-Cove Police Department in New York City.
Argueta’s cousin asked her to ‘cash’ in his winning $1m scratch-off ticket.
According to a joint-news release from the ‘NCDA’ and Glen Cove PD, Argueta’s cousin asked her to ‘cash’ in his winning $1m scratch-off ticket because he wished to remain anonymous. As a ‘thank you’ for cashing the ticket, Argueta would get a $50,000 cut.
The transgressor then claimed the cash for herself, telling her relative that the ticket had won considerably less.
Argueta supposedly mailed her cousin’s winning ticket– purchased for $5 at a 7-Eleven in Glen Cove in October 2020– to the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) from her Virginia address to declare the payouts. The 32-year-old, who now resides in Houston, Texas, chose to get the reward as a one-off lump sum payment amounting to over $537,000.
Due to ‘COVID-19’ precautions in October 2020, the NYSGC would not accept winning-tickets in person, which is why Argueta supposedly ‘mailed’ the ticket to the video gaming body on November 13, 2020.
After receiving the prize money, Argueta supposedly lied to her family, declaring that the lottery ticket won $20,000. According to Glen Cove PD, Argueta even provided her cousin with documentation from lotto authorities detailing the winnings.
The lotto thief’s ploy was up when her cousin identified a central New York city Lotto news release stating that Argueta had declared the $1m lottery game win and opted for a $500,000+ payout.
Regardless of challenging Argueta to understand the New York Lottery game news release, the offender supposedly insisted that she had no extra cash for her cousin. If he ‘continued’ to contact her, she said he would ‘suffer’ legal consequences.
According to the official news release, Judge David Levine handed Argueta charges of one count of grand larceny in the 2nd degree and two counts of criminal ownership of a created instrument in the second degree.
” This defendant exploited her cousin’s trust, supposedly lying and manipulating him to pocket the lion’s share of his $1m winning lotto ticket for herself,” Performing Nassau County DA Joyce A. Smith said.
Glen Cove PD and the NCDA’s workplace said they have recuperated and are holding $317,825.46 in allegedly taken funds from Argueta’s checking account.
The ‘DA’ said that if the top charge sticks, Argueta could face five to 15-years in prison. She is due back in ‘court’ on November 23, 2021.
In another lottery-related crime, New york city lawyer Jason Kurlan was indicted in August 2020 for his function in a $107m scheme to defraud lotto winners.
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