Probation for Elgin woman who tried to fake lottery win
A 19-year-old Elgin woman who police say falsified documents in an attempt to claim a winning lottery ticket pleaded guilty to charges of attempted theft by deception.
In exchange for her guilty plea, a Cook County judge sentenced Leandria Williams to two years of probation and ordered her to perform 100 hours of community service, Cook County court clerk's records show. The judge also ordered Williams pay $630 in fines.
Williams went to the lottery claims office in Des Plaines on April 4 with a falsified ticket in an attempt to share in the record-breaking $656 million Mega Millions jackpot drawn on March 30, sheriff's police said.
Police say Williams bought tickets online about eight minutes after the winning number was drawn, then doctored the email receipt to make it appear she had bought the tickets before the deadline.
None of the three people who shared in that record-breaking jackpot were from the Chicago area.
Williams' arrest marked the first time a player has attempted to “game the system” since Illinois became the first state to sell Lottery tickets online in March.