A clerk at a Long Island deli awarded a customer $1,000 on a winning lottery ticket, Nassau County police said.
The only problem? The ticket was worth $1 million.
On Thursday, a man who didn’t speak English purchased the winning ticket atPeninsula Deli & Grocery in in Hempstead, N.Y, handing it to clerkKarim Jaghab to confirm. Jaghab, 26, scanned it and allegedlyawarded the man $1,000 on the spot without returning the ticket.
But the unidentified victim was suspicious and returned the following day to the convenience store, where Jaghab offered to pay him $10,000 if he didn’t involve police. His father, ownerNabil Jaghab, backed him up on the new claim that the ticket was worth $10,000.
But the victim called the police, who seized the million-dollar ticket and arrested the Jaghabs. They werearraigned Saturday on charges of grand larceny in the second degree.
Their lawyer, Matthew Fleischer, told the court that the lottery machine at the store was not working properly, WCBS reports.
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