Florida couple facing charges for faking million dollar lottery win
MIAMI - A Florida couple faces felony charges for faking a big Florida Lottery win.
The Escambia Co. Sheriff's Office said Kira Enders and her boyfriend Dakota Jones, from Walton County, are accused of trying to pass off a $50 scratch-off lottery ticket as a million dollar winner.
The Florida Lottery said the 500 Times The Cash ticket was actually two tickets unskillfully pieced together.
"They had an individual that thought that they could, they could crudely take two tickets and put them together and pretend as if they were a million dollar winner," said Escambia Sheriff Chip Simmons.
He said Enders, 36, turned the fake ticket in at a Florida Lottery office in Pensacola on March 1st. According to the arrest report, the lottery office workers immediately recognized the ticket was fake as Enders tried to cash it in. The report notes that Enders confirmed she was the owner of the ticket, including a signed affidavit stating the ticket was real, and acknowledging the penalties of perjury if caught lying.
Further investigation revealed the two tickets had no winning prizes at all.
The sheriff said this was far from the perfect crime.
"I don't think this is gonna be a made-for-TV movie type of situation because, uh, it was clear to the lottery officials, and obviously clear to us, that she had taken two tickets with different, you know, one side had one serial number, the other side had the other serial number on it. Especially whenever you pretend like you've won a million dollars, they're gonna take a look at this at this ticket."
Less than a week after trying to cash in, the sheriff's office said Enders called the lottery office in search of her prize. Instead, investigators asked to speak in person with Enders and the person who brought her there, later identified as Jones
Despite officials pointing out the two separate tickets and showing Enders that the words on the back of the tickets didn't match up, investigators said she repeatedly insisted the ticket was real and only taped after ripping it apart.
The arrest report states that the couple had two entirely different stories on how they obtained the ticket. The inconsistencies in their statements are what led to their arrest this week.
"If you're gonna try to claim a million dollars, you've got to do a lot better than this. You know, you're not a lottery winner, you're a criminal."