{"id":191823,"date":"2021-11-11T12:57:57","date_gmt":"2021-11-11T20:57:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=191823"},"modified":"2021-11-11T13:49:54","modified_gmt":"2021-11-11T21:49:54","slug":"woman-who-stole-cousins-1m-winning-lottery-ticket-faces-15-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/woman-who-stole-cousins-1m-winning-lottery-ticket-faces-15-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman Who Stole Cousin\u2019s $1M Winning Lottery Scratch-off Faces 15 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

A woman has been charged with grand larceny after allegedly stealing her cousin\u2019s $1 million lottery ticket. That\u2019s according to a joint press release from the Nassau County DA\u2019s Office and the Glen Cove Police Department.<\/p>\n

\"Iris
A New York State Lottery $5 Hold \u2019Em Poker scratch-off ticket. Argueta is accused of stealing the $537,440 winnings from her cousin\u2019s ticket and handing him just $13,436. (Image: YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Iris Amador Argueta, 32, who now lives in Houston, Texas, was given the ticket to cash because her Long Island-based cousin wanted to remain anonymous after his stroke of luck. He had purchased the winning ticket, a $5 Hold \u2019Em Poker scratch-off, at a 7-Eleven store in Glen Cove, Long Island.<\/p>\n

According to prosecutors, Argueta agreed to be paid $50,000 in exchange for claiming the prize. She drove from Virginia, where she was living at the time, to Long Island to pick it up.<\/p>\n

At the time, the New York Gaming Commission<\/a> was not accepting winning tickets in person because of the pandemic. So, on November 13, 2020, Argueta mailed the ticket to the commission, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Fake\u2019 Letter<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Several weeks later, she returned to her cousin\u2019s residence with a letter she claimed was from the gaming commission, which prosecutors allege was fake. The letter said there had been a mistake and the prize was only $20,000.<\/p>\n

Argueta handed her cousin an envelope containing $13,436, which she claimed was all that was left after tax deductions.<\/p>\n

Argueta\u2019s plan was almost perfect, but for one fatal flaw — her cousin had Google.<\/p>\n

\n

He quickly found a press release on the New York State Lottery<\/a> website eulogizing her ‘$1,000,000’ win. The release indicated she had opted to receive a lump sum of $537,440 after taxes.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

When the cousin called Argueta to confront her, she threatened to sue him, and he called the police.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce the alleged crime was brought to the attention of the Glen Cove Police Department, an investigation immediately commenced. Glen Cove Detective Eddy Linares worked tirelessly with the Nassau County District Attorney\u2019s Office investigating the allegations and gathering evidence,\u201d said Detective Lieutenant John Nagle of the Glen Cove Police Department.<\/p>\n

“As a result of the joint investigation, the suspect was subsequently located and arrested,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Bank Account Frozen<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Following that investigation, Argueta\u2019s bank account was frozen and $317,825.46 in allegedly stolen funds were seized.<\/p>\n

Now, she faces up to 15 years in prison.<\/p>\n

“This defendant exploited her cousin\u2019s trust, allegedly lying and manipulating him with the aim of pocketing the lion\u2019s share of his $1 million winning lottery ticket for herself,\u201d said Acting Nassau County DA Joyce Smith.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks to a great working partnership with the Glen Cove Police Department, we\u2019ve recovered more than $300,000 in allegedly stolen funds and will vigorously prosecute this case.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A woman has been charged with grand larceny after allegedly stealing her cousin\u2019s $1 million lottery ticket. That\u2019s according to a joint press release from the Nassau County DA\u2019s Office and the Glen Cove Police Department. Iris Amador Argueta, 32, who now lives in Houston, Texas, was given the ticket to cash because her Long […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":191824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13699],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWoman Who Stole Cousin\u2019s $1M Winning Lottery Ticket Faces 15 Years<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Iris Amador Argueta allegedly stole her cousin\u2019s $1M winning $5 Hold \u2018Em Poker ticket and forged documents that claimed the win was $20k.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/woman-who-stole-cousins-1m-winning-lottery-ticket-faces-15-years\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Woman Who Stole Cousin\u2019s $1M Winning Lottery Ticket Faces 15 Years\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Iris Amador Argueta allegedly stole her cousin\u2019s $1M winning $5 Hold \u2018Em Poker ticket and forged documents that claimed the win was $20k.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/woman-who-stole-cousins-1m-winning-lottery-ticket-faces-15-years\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-11T20:57:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-11T21:49:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ny-lot.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/woman-who-stole-cousins-1m-winning-lottery-ticket-faces-15-years\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/woman-who-stole-cousins-1m-winning-lottery-ticket-faces-15-years\/\",\"name\":\"Woman Who Stole Cousin\u2019s $1M Winning Lottery Ticket Faces 15 Years\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/woman-who-stole-cousins-1m-winning-lottery-ticket-faces-15-years\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/woman-who-stole-cousins-1m-winning-lottery-ticket-faces-15-years\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ny-lot.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-11T20:57:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-11T21:49:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Iris Amador Argueta allegedly stole her cousin\u2019s $1M winning $5 Hold \u2018Em Poker ticket and forged documents that claimed the win was $20k.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/woman-who-stole-cousins-1m-winning-lottery-ticket-faces-15-years\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/woman-who-stole-cousins-1m-winning-lottery-ticket-faces-15-years\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/woman-who-stole-cousins-1m-winning-lottery-ticket-faces-15-years\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ny-lot.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/ny-lot.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"A New York State Lottery $5 Hold \u2019Em Poker scratch-off ticket. 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