A Massachusetts man whose winning lottery ticket was stolen earlier this year claimed his rightful $3 million lottery winnings Friday, days after the woman accused of stealing his ticket was arraigned in court.
Paul Little originally bought potato chips and lottery tickets at a convenience store in Lakeville back in January, according to court documents. When he left the store, though, he forgot to grab the tickets, documents said.
“The first thing I thought was ‘I can’t believe I left the ticket behind,” Little said.
Prosecutors said another customer bought tickets and realized she had taken someone else’s tickets by accident. So, she returned the unclaimed tickets, handing them to Carly Nunes, 23, who was an employee of the store at the time.
Authorities said Nunes, along with her boyfriend and another coworker then took the winning ticket and tried to claim it at Massachusetts Lottery headquarters in Dorchester.
Officials said they were immediately suspicious.
“The ticket was burnt, you could not read the winning numbers and the ticket was torn,” said Dan O’Neil of the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission.
People who buy lottery tickets using cash are a dime a dozen, though. And Paul Little was no exception.
Thankfully for Little, there was surveillance video, allowing investigators to follow the money straight back to him.
Nunes was arraigned in Brockton Superior Court on Tuesday and is being held on $10,000 cash bail.
On Friday, after a months-long investigation, Little finally saw the money from his ticket.
“A lot of things had to happen for me to be standing here today,” he said.
“I gotta say, I’m pretty excited today because it’s real today with a check in hand,” he separately said.
Little said he is starting practical with his lottery winnings, paying off his house and helping his church with some needed repairs.
As for the woman who returned Little’s tickets to the store, he said he would like to meet with her if she’s up for it.