Florida man arrested after attempting to cash stolen $115,000 Fantasy 5 lottery ticket

Comment #14

GiveFive — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 14:32:38 GMT

Good guess...

I've been thinking Williams tipped himself off too. Some how, some way he figured out that he screwed up and went back to the gas station asking for the ticket back.

No can do, my friend. I tore it up and threw it out!! And then the dog ate the garbage. Maybe tomorrow after I walk the dog, you can come back and we'll see if we can do anything.

That's how bad this story SMELLS! G5

Comment #13

grwurston — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 23:50:10 GMT

There is another possibility. That Williams picked his own numbers and had them written down to fill out his playslips like a lot of us do with our workouts. So he knew he had a jackpot win. Possibly he had some of the same numbers on multiple lines on the ticket and hit a smaller prize and wanted to cash that win at the gas station. Then he wanted the ticket back so he could claim his jackpot and never thought the clerk (uncle) would refuse to return it.

The only way we'll know for sure is... [ More ]

Comment #12

GiveFive — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 14:58:29 GMT

Here's a cut and paste from the Florida Lottery's Jackpot Winners and Retailers Report -

10/1/2025 EVENING DRAWING

WINNERS NAME - MICHAEL GEORGE WILLIAMS

RETAILER - LIQUOR 1 NORTH LAUDERDALE, FL 33068 7110 N UNIVERSITY DRIVE SUITE D, TAMARAC

CASH OPTION - $115,732.61

QUICK PICK? NO

Your guess is pretty good... But a human being somewhere had to have tipped Williams off that he was ripped off by the gas station owner. If he had first used the Florida Lottery's scanner av... [ More ]

Comment #11

grwurston — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 10:24:25 GMT

The winning drawing was Oct 1 evening.

Wed, Oct 1, 2025

Evening 3 12 17 20 23

Prize Level Winners Prize

5-of-5 5

1 $115,732.61

4-of-5 4

203 $91.50

3-of-5 3

5,636 $9

2-of-5 2

52,812 Free Ticket

I'm thinking Williams knew he won and went to the store to verify it and the jackpot amount, but the uncle told him he won a smaller prize and gave Williams the money out of the cash register then kept the ticket and wouldn't return it. So then... [ More ]

Comment #10

Artist77 — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 21:31:26 GMT

That guy is 26? That is a hard 26. I would have guessed 46.

Comment #9

GiveFive — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 21:10:15 GMT

Here's what I shoulda written right after I read this story -

Hells Bells! And here I always thought blood was thicker then water! That sure aint right, is it!

And just to add insult to injury, from lookin' at Jaweds mugshot, that boy sure looks to me like a Green Bay Packerhead, don't he?? G5

Comment #8

GiveFive — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 20:53:51 GMT

This story might be more complicated than it already appears to be.

Jawed presented the ticket to The Florida Lottery and initiated a claim on October 20.

Authorities contacted Jawed by phone on Nov. 24, 2025, and visited his home on january 5th. He was booked in The Palm Beach County jail on January 8th.

That says to me that Jawed could have been paid by The Florida Lottery on October 20th, but if they did that, then they would have withheld Federal Income Taxes from the payout. S... [ More ]

Comment #7

LottoBux — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 13:54:20 GMT

Yep, his uncle held on to the ticket for a few weeks but couldn't claim the ticket as his own since being a lottery retailer and claiming the prize would deinitely set off alarm bells.

So he gave the ticket for his nephew to claim hoping it wouldn't get noticed.

Jawed cracked big time under investigation.

The only question now is what charges will his uncle (the owner) face beside losing your lottery license.

Comment #6

GiveFive — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 13:48:20 GMT

I think Tony Numbers post contains the most likely explanation of how the ticket was stolen.

Fanatsy5 is a daily online game with two drawings per day so the ticket purchase and the drawing had to have taken place prior to October 2nd. What I can't figure out is if the guy that originally bought the ticket took the gas station owners word for it that it was a loser, how did he learn on October 2nd the gas station owner had lied to him and that it was really a $115 jackpot winner? Especially... [ More ]

Comment #5

Tony Numbers — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 00:50:40 GMT

His uncle owns the gas station where the ticket was purchased. Probably the buyer of the winner asked the uncle( owner) to verify the ticket, then he probably told him its a losing ticket, Probably didn't return said ticket then the purchaser reported it stolen . What is puzzling is why this wasn't resolved on October 2 nd the day of the reported theft

Comment #4

Wavepack — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 21:21:49 GMT

How was the ticket stolen

Comment #3

noise-gate — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 20:28:44 GMT

* Worse still is if you a naturalized citizen or a green card holder, you could be stripped of both sent back to your home country. Playtime is over.

Comment #2

BaltimoreRon — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 18:33:35 GMT

well the ticket was a Fantasy variety, so there is that.

Comment #1

LottoBux — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 14:48:36 GMT

That is the look of someone who knows they're screwed.

Thinking of his life ahead.

Very sombre, indeed.

Will the uncle be charged as well for telling his nephew to claim the ticket?

Time will tell

Florida man arrested after attempting to cash stolen $115,000 Fantasy 5 lottery ticket

Lottery Post — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 14:05:47 GMT

Retailer relative orchestrated underhanded claim

By Kate Northrop

A Florida man was arrested after attempting to cash in a stolen Florida Lottery Fantasy 5 ticket worth more than $115,000.

A shady attempt to claim a $115,000 Fantasy 5 lottery prize was tied back to a reported theft at a retailer in Palm Beach County, which prevented a fraudulent payout and had officials on high alert.

Authorities arrested Areeb Jawed, 26, when his story of how he actually obtained a $115,000 winn... [ More ]