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HOUSTON – A Hispanic woman from Houston has been accused of stealing a winning lottery ticket from her cousin of a million dollars, according to the authorities.
Victim purchased a $ 5 New York State Lottery Scratch-Off ticket at a 7 Eleven store on 28 of October of last year. Scratching the ticket revealed a million dollar prize.
In order to remain anonymous, the victim asked her cousin, Iris Amador Argueta, to claim the award and in exchange would give $ 50, 000 Dollars. Argueta, who was living in Virginia, drove to New York to get the ticket and then send it to the New York Lottery on 11 of November, 2020.
Weeks later, Argueta went to her cousin’s house with altered documents indicating that the prize had only been $ 20, 000 and only gave his cousin $ 13, 436 in cash, according to authorities.
The victim later learned that her cousin had collected the $ 1 million prize and that she had received a payment of $ 537,440 after of taxes collected.
After an investigation, Argueta turned himself in to the Police and was charged with grand theft in the second degree and two charges for having tampered with official documents. Court documents indicate that Argueta is a resident of Houston, Texas.
So far they have been able to recover $ 317, 825 stolen funds. If Argueta is found guilty, he could face up to 15 years in prison.
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