Gas station clerk thought she scored a $1K WA lottery ticket. She got stung
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Clerk allegedly kept test ticket showing $1,000 win from lottery inspector.
- Prosecutors charged clerk with fraud after daughter tried to redeem ticket.
- Court documents cite prior instances of clerk cashing found winning tickets.
A gas station clerk is facing criminal charges after she illegally tried to cash a $1,000 lottery ticket.
Turns out the ticket wasn’t a winner, just a prop used by Washington state lottery officials to see if clerks are following state laws.
Maria Garcia-Navarro, 35, pleaded innocent Thursday in Benton County Superior Court to fraudulently claiming a lottery prize.
Court documents say that Garcia-Navarro was working at a Wapato gas station on Aug. 20, when an undercover Washington State Lottery security specialist showed up with the special lottery ticket.
She was supposed to scan it and then direct the man to contact the Washington State Lottery.
When Garcia-Navarro scanned it, the machine played, “You’re in the Money,” indicating that it was a winner.
The machine then prints out a slip for the person to cash at a state lottery office.
Instead, she allegedly paused for several moments before telling the undercover officer that it wasn’t a winner, court documents said.
Two days later, her daughter went into the state lottery office in Kennewick to claim the $1,000 prize and officials called Kennewick police.
While Garcia-Navarro said she remembered the security officer coming into the store, she claimed the machine said his ticket wasn’t a winner, according to court documents.
She told officers that she threw the ticket away, but then went back to scan it into the lottery’s app for “points.”
Court documents claim she admitted to investigators to finding and cashing other winning tickets.