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A pair of gas station employees in Georgia allegedly worked together in a lottery fraud scheme — stealing thousands of dollars in lottery tickets, according to authorities.
Lottery ticket fraud
According to arrest warrants obtained by Marietta Daily Journal, Adrienne Michele Jones, 44, and Heaven Noelle Long, 20, are accused of working together on the lottery ticket fraud scheme.
Officials said they stole, scanned, and disposed of lottery tickets while they were working their shifts on July 20 between 9 and 11:30 a.m. ET and on July 27 between 6:35 and 8:12 a.m. ET.
The duo was employed at the RaceTrac gas station, located at 15 Windy Hill Road in Mariette.
An internal investigation
According to the warrants, RaceTrac completed an internal investigation regarding the case.
During that investigation, they determined Jones and Long allegedly stole over $1,000 from fraudulent lottery tickets on July 20. Then, on July 27, the duo reportedly stole over $1,570.
The arrests
On July 31, Jones was arrested and charged with two counts of counterfeit lottery tickets or influencing winning of prize, authorities said.
On August 1, Long was arrested and was also charged with two counts of counterfeit lottery tickets or influencing winning of prize.
Both suspects were booked into the Cobb County Adult Detention Center, police said. However, they have both since been released on $2,500 bonds.
Legit winners only
While these ladies tried to steal and cheat their way to winning in the Georgia Lottery, there have been a bunch of players who have had some big wins recently. Players were cashing in big wins on scratchers, as lottery officials said they awarded over $42 million in scratcher prizes to winning players last week!
A couple of other players had some luck playing Mega Millions this past week in Georgia. One lucky player won $10,000 on a ticket they purchased at Sheppard's LLC, located in Savannah. The other lucky winner purchased a Megaplier ticket from Publix in Buford and won $40,000.
It wasn't just a Mega Millions win for Georgia Lottery players either. One lucky player purchased a Powerball ticket at Quick Mart & Cafe in Elberton and ended up winning $50,000 for that drawing.
The wins weren't just coming from lottery retailers. Another lucky player in Atlanta hit it big playing Cleopatra Clusters Jackpot on the official Georgia Lottery mobile app. They hit that jackpot, winning $105,245!
Lottery officials announced another big win from the official mobile app. Eddie from Covington won $470,424 playing 100X The Money, as he was a big quick win jackpot winner.
The prize amounts keep going up for these Georgia Lottery players, as the next big winner hit it big playing Fantasy 5 this week. The winning ticket was purchased at Murphy Express in Valdosta, and they won $746,615!
Enjoy playing the Georgia Lottery, and please remember to play responsibly.
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