Iowa Man And Woman Arrested For Failed Plan To Commit Lottery Fraud
A plan they could have gotten away with if only they didn't get caught arguing about it.
In Evansdale Iowa
A man from Iowa and his roommate are in serious trouble after committing lottery fraud.
It all started in Evansdale Iowa. A 63-year-old woman named Sandra Jean Crow turned in a winning Candy Cane Crossword scratch ticket at the Iowa Lottery’s regional office in Cedar Rapids on November 7th.
Here is a photo of Sandra Jean Crow claiming the $30,000 prize. She took a lump sum payout of $21,300.
The winning ticket was originally purchased for $3 at the Kwik Star on Fletcher Avenue in Waterloo, but it was not purchased by Crow.
According to court records the person who bought the crossword lottery ticket was Crow's roommate, 45-year-old Alvin Hans Larsen III.
Why Did She Claim The Money?
Although the ticket was cashed in months ago, the incident was caught by police just recently.
Cops received a call about a disturbance at the home of roommates of Crow and Larsen at Lafayette Road on December 13th. The two roommates were vigorously arguing about the lottery winning.
Alvin Hans Larsen was in the middle of moving out when police arrived and overheard the arguing. As officers stood by to keep the peace during the argument, they found out that Larsen was actually the person that bought the winning ticket. Turns out, he had his roommate cash it in to avoid having a portion of his money seized.
“I cashed the ticket in. I wasn’t entitled to the money,” Crow was allegedly heard saying.
“Ya, it’s fraud. She is saying I won it,” Larsen told one of the officers.
“He begged me to cash it so he didn’t have to pay any money he owed,” Crow added.
Larsen is in debt and owes $919 to the city due to unpaid fines. To avoid this, he convinced Crow to claim the ticket was hers and promised to share some of his winnings.
Revealing The Scam
Although it is not specified how much Crow was supposed to get, she realized she had leverage over Larsen because she held the money and did not give him back his full share.
The roommates arguing revealed the whole scam to the police. Alvin complained to cops that the ticket was really his and accused Sandy of "fraud." He was right, she did commit fraud, but little did he realize that he also committed lottery fraud.
Charges
Both Crow and Larsen were charged with lottery fraud, a felony, last week. Crow was released from jail. The bond for Larsen was set at $5,000.
Both of them are now facing felony charges.
Read More Here: Quad-City Times
Harrison Ford's Illinois Childhood Home
More From Sasquatch 107.7 - The Rock of Rochester
