This isn’t the first time that a lottery retailer has attempted to cash in a stolen lottery ticket. It is, however, something that hasn’t been seen in New Zealand very often. Ivy Rolleston from Christchurch was discovered to have been attempting to cash in a lottery ticket she had stolen from a customer, and has recently attended her first court date.
The lottery ticket in question was worth $100 000, a life-changing sum of money for whomever the genuine winner would have been. However, Rolleston viewed the ticket as a means to commit a serious crime – only to be caught in the process.
She attempted to be smart about the crime, using a third-party to cash in the ticket. However, sophisticated lottery retail software discovered that the prize was not genuinely won – and the authorities were alerted.
Rolleston faces 5 counts of theft and fraud, including attempting to dishonestly use a document. She has been released on bail but will return to court on April 27th, 2012. We don’t think that she will get off lightly with a crime of this nature.
