Liquor store clerk foiled by video after allegedly stealing winning $3M ticket

A Massachusetts liquor store clerk allegedly stole and tried to cash out a winning $3 million lottery ticket – but her alleged plot was foiled when officials watched surveillance video.

Carly Nunes, 23, of Lakeville, sold Paul Little two State Lottery Quick Picks for the Mega Millions lottery and two for the Mass Cash lottery along with a bag of chips on Jan. 17, CNN reported.

But the boat mechanic — who added a multiplier to his Mega Millions ticket to increase the jackpot prize — forgot to take the tickets, which another customer noticed and handed back to Nunes about 45 minutes later, prosecutors said.

“Nunes took the tickets and said they must have belonged to ‘him,’ meaning the victim,” Plymouth County DA Tim Cruz said in a statement, CBS News reported.

Little searched for his tickets and assumed they were lost, officials said. Later that evening, his winning Mass Millions numbers were called.

When Nunes found out she had the ticket, she allegedly hatched a plot to cash it in with the help of co-worker Joseph Reddem, 32, who drove her to the Massachusetts State Lottery headquarters in Dorchester to collect the prize, WCVB reported.

But the alleged plot unraveled when the two suspects showed up at the lottery headquarters, where Nunes claimed she had bought the winning ticket at the end of her shift.

Lottery officials smelled something fishy when they noticed that the ticket appeared to be torn and burned – which Nunes claimed happened when she accidentally put it on a pipe, according to the news outlet.

However, the officials also noticed Nunes and Reddem arguing loudly in the lobby.

“Reddem allegedly made demands of the jackpot and Nunes informed Reddem that she would ‘only pay him $200,000,’” CBS News reported, citing the DA’s office.

Lottery authorities opened an investigation and withheld the prize money pending the results of the probe.

“At lottery headquarters, the argument that took place in the lobby was really one of the key things that tipped us off,” said Massachusetts State Lottery rep Christian Teja, Local 12 reported.

The DA’s office said that “surveillance video obtained from the Savas store confirmed that the male victim, not Nunes, purchased the winning ticket. During a further interview with investigators, Nunes no longer claimed to have purchased the ticket herself, but instead said she inadvertently obtained the winning ticket.”

On Feb. 13, investigators located the real winner.

Nunes was arrested Tuesday in Brockton after she failed to show up to a June 12 arraignment, CBS News reported.

She faces charges of larceny from a building, presentation of a false claim and witness intimidation, according to the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office. A judge ordered her held on $10,000 cash bail after she pleaded not guilty.

Reddem was charged with attempted extortion and released on his own recognizance. He was ordered not to gamble or have contact with Nunes and witnesses. He is due back in court on July 28.