Transcript for Man accused of stealing roommate’s winning $10M lotto ticket
California man made the mistake of telling his roommate he hit it big in the lottery and the friend stole the winning ticket and gio Benitez has the story and how the roommate was caught. Reporter: At first they thought the ticket was worth 10 grand. It turns out it’s worth 10 million and police say the roommate tried taking it all so this morning a twist to that saying, keep your friends close, but your lottery ticket closer. This morning, the man trying to claim a winning lottery prize instead ending up in handcuffs. The alleged plot revealed when police say his roommate, the real winner, brought this scratch-off ticket in to claim a $10,000 prize. That’s when lotto officials told him the ticket wasn’t a winner, it was a fake. Once our suspect is aware that his roommate has a winning ticket, a couple hours later, he goes to the same store, buys the same style of ticket to alter it to make it look like the winning ticket. Reporter: The next day the suspected ticket thief then showing up at lottery headquarters with the real scratcher learning it was worth $10 million, not 10,000. Lottery officials launching an investigation going to the store where it was sold in vacaville, California, and looking at surveillance video, later confronting the suspect with this altered ticket. He was pretty shocked. Clearly he had the interview with the lottery officials thinking he was going to collect the $10 million and then once he was greeted by vacaville police department and arrested, his happiness obviously changed. Reporter: So will the real winner get the cash? Well, the California lottery tells ABC news once the lottery verifies the identity of the winner of the ticket it will pay that claimant the $10 million prize. So the roommate/suspect has been charged with grand theft. He’ll appear in court this afternoon. California lottery officials say this case shows why winners should immediately sign those tickets and store them in a safe place. Ooh. I’m immediately going to cash it. I have no problem. Only if it’s yours. Only if it’s yours. Good piece of advice, gio. Thank you for that.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
