Nebraska man who cashed $300,000 lottery prize arrested for fraudulent claim

Comment #23

GiveFive — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 14:40:03 GMT

He got bailed out of jail. Either that or somebody posted bond for him.

He's not off the hook. He'll be due in court in the near future for various court proceedings.

His lawyer is probably negotiating a plea deal with the DA for him. They have him stone cold with the video tape direct evidence.

There are two types of evidence - circumstantial and direct with circumstantial being the weakest form of evidence. Direct evidence is things like an eyewitness or video tape. Direct eviden... [ More ]

Comment #22

GiveFive — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 14:25:03 GMT

It's the same way with District Attorney's.

If The Prosecutor thinks the cops don't have enough evidence to gain a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt, then they will tell the cops to go back and investigate the crime further and bring back more evidence. They wont charge the perp.

Even with crimes like murder where the murderer is well aware the police are conducting an investigation, the cops never reveal all the info they've learned via the investigation. G5

Comment #21

MaggiesMeme20 — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 02:57:02 GMT

It probably meant he had been transferred to another prison.

Comment #20

dickblow — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 13:25:43 GMT

hopefully he be meeting bubba in prison

Comment #19

Tony Numbers — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 12:59:04 GMT

So Mr Ehler must have emulated the actions of the this female employee. If he would have straightened out his business before cashing the ticket(paying the store back) This would have worked.

Comment #18

Artist77 — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 12:40:40 GMT

That is a different fact situation. There was no video that she was doing that routine and she must have been paying for the scratchers since you said the lottery viewed it simply as someone playing on the job.

The news article here pertained to theft. Paying after checking a scratcher is theft.

I would love to see the link to this story and court case you mentioned. I am doubtful that any lottery would fail to get involved in theft if she was cashing stolen tickets and also blame a sto... [ More ]

Comment #17

mypiemaster — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 06:15:22 GMT

I like it when criminals outsmart themselves . They usually give you that deer in the headlight look when you catch them. They usually think they can outsmart everyone.

Comment #16

TheGameGrl — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 05:53:41 GMT

Our area a few years back had this very scenario. Employee at a convenience store. Won a large sum. She actually got to keep the money and pay for a lawyer to fight the allegation. The lottery could only say its a bearers' instrument we don't get involved with the stores policy of playing on the job. The girl definitely wasn't buying them. She'd just find one low level winner and build up her losses and wins til she either broke even or got ahead. She admitted she played that way and it was the... [ More ]

Comment #15

Artist77 — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 21:24:07 GMT

That is not how investigations work. If the employee knew his employer was onto him and fired him, then he would disappear. You do not show your hand until everything is lined up. I am sure the lottery asked the employer to wait. Best to keep criminals thinking they got away with a crime until all the facts and evidence are investigated and concluded.

Comment #14

Newkids06 — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 20:53:26 GMT

Sorry but I feel like the store manager is a B!tch for that. Why wait till he's won a prize collected check then contact the lottery like He stole that ticket and allegedly he's been stealing tickets. He collected prize 4/12, you fire him on 4/19 and 4/23 you contact Nebraska lottery. Hes been stealing without paying for the last 6 months and it was never a problem till the guy won the prize. He saw that man's picture for the jackpot prize got jealous and said im going to ruin it all for him. An... [ More ]

Comment #13

Artist77 — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 17:35:18 GMT

The DM and the lottery took the time to conduct a thorough investigation. It would have been unfair to fire the employee based upon suspicion only.

Comment #12

sully16 — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 17:06:19 GMT

and he thought he had a fool proof plan.

Comment #11

MrLotto$ — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 12:49:52 GMT

He sure isn't

Comment #10

play4shekels — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 12:44:38 GMT

So the district manager suspected the perp in October 2023, but didn't fire him until April 2024? The DM should be fired, too- his lack of urgency cost a paying lottery customer a chance at $300,000. That's still a nice chunk of change in the Midwest.

Comment #9

chris632 — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 10:51:29 GMT

He's not smiling anymore

Comment #8

MrLotto$ — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 05:51:27 GMT

He's a baaaaad boyy

Comment #7

MrLotto$ — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 05:50:52 GMT

What do they mean not on the prisoners list? Got off Scott free, trial, plea

Comment #6

Jadidit — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 04:42:55 GMT

Pure Dummy

Comment #5

JustMaybe — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 23:33:55 GMT

Thank you Brock for shading some light on my ignorance.

I think he was trying to be smart by paying for the ticket after scanning it. Those that did not win anything he just did not pay for them.

I wonder how he would hand over his shift - sales and cash in hand.

It's probably hard to realize any mischief unless one does an inventory count.

Comment #4

JustMaybe — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 23:29:14 GMT

Thank you Tony for the enlightenment.

I was worried that one could scan and put it back in.

Comment #3

Brock Lee — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 20:31:34 GMT

the only way to tell if the ticket is not a winner is to scratch off some or all of the barcode. before they switched to 2-d barcodes, the tickets used to have zebra stripe type barcodes. a dishonest employee could rake a pin over the coating perpendicular to the stripes and get all the info they needed while not leaving much of a mark. nowadays you'd have to remove a lot more of the coating to get something readable. then i guess sell it to a someone who isn't observant enough to notice the tic... [ More ]

Comment #2

Tony Numbers — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 20:28:33 GMT

They can reveal the bar code in order to scan the ticket to see if it's a winner. But it would be difficult to sell the ticket with the bar code removed.

Comment #1

JustMaybe — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 17:59:07 GMT

Well, this is a question from someone that lives in a State that doesn't sell scratchers.

Can a store employee scan a scratch ticket and if it's not a winner put it back in the unsold pack?

Forgive my ignorance.

Nebraska man who cashed $300,000 lottery prize arrested for fraudulent claim

Lottery Post — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 14:57:34 GMT

Store manager defrauds lottery with false impression that he was a real winner

By Kate Northrop

A Nebraska man was arrested for allegedly stealing lottery tickets from his workplace and fraudulently claiming a $300,000 prize.

Following an investigation, Nebraska state police arrested a convenience store employee who allegedly stole Nebraska Lottery tickets from his workplace and successfully cashed in a winning ticket worth $300,000.

Jeremiah Ehlers, 49, of Greeley, was charged w... [ More ]