HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (AP) — A Long Island deli owner and his son were charged Saturday with scamming a customer out of a $1 million lottery ticket.
Nassau County police said a 34-year-old man who doesn't speak English bought the ticket Thursday at the Peninsula Deli & Grocery in Hempstead.
The man scratched off his card, saw that he was a winner and handed it to Karim Jaghab, 26, to get his winnings, police said.
The ticket was worth $1 million, but Jaghab gave the man $1,000 in cash and kept the ticket, police said.
The customer became suspicious and went back Friday, police said. They say Jaghab and his 57-year-old father, Nabil Jaghab, the owner of the deli, tried to give him $10,000 and told him not to go to the police, authorities said.
The customer went to police, who determined that he had won the $1 million jackpot.
The Jaghabs, of East Meadow, were arraigned Saturday on grand larceny charges. Each was ordered held on $7,500 bond. According to Newsday, their attorney said it was a simple mistake on a payout on a lottery machine.
A similar case unfolded in Suffolk County this year when two Riverhead gas station clerks and the brother of one of the clerks were charged with scamming a customer out of a $74,892 prize.
In that case, police said the clerks gave the man $774 in cash. As with the Nassau case, the victim was an immigrant who speaks no English.
In another case in Syracuse, two brothers who claimed a $5 million lottery ticket sold at their family's store were charged with scamming the winning ticket from a customer in 2006. One brother was sentenced this year to up to 25 years in prison for possessing the stolen ticket; both brothers were acquitted of conspiracy charges.
