You'd think most owners of gas stations and convenient stores would be happy to sell the winning lottery ticket to one of their customers, right?
"A Long Island deli owner and his son are charged with trying to cheat a customer out of a $1 million jackpot from a scratch-off lottery ticket." (Via WNBC)
A 34-year-old New York man told police he turned in a winning lottery ticket from Peninsula Deli to 26-year-old deli clerk Karim Jaghab. Jaghab, he says, paid him $1,000 cash and kept the $1 million winning ticket. (Via WABC)
Luckily, the unnamed winner was suspicious about what had happened and returned to the store.
According to the New York Daily News, after pressing the deli's clerk, Karim, about how much he had really won, Karim allegedly told him, "OK, I will pay you $10,000 as long as you don't involve the police." And that's when the man says the Deli owner, Nabil Jaghab, chimed in, telling him, "You only won $10,000."
Well, fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, and you're going to jail. The New York man called the police to confirm his suspicion that he had been ripped off, and the deli owner and his son were arrested. (Via Newsday)
The Jaghabs were arraigned Saturday on grand larceny charges and are each being held on $7,500 bond.