12 Arraigned in Lottery ‘Sting’ Plead Not Guilty

Twelve of 16 people arrested in a lottery “sting” operation in March pleaded innocent Friday to charges of submitting forged tickets to claim prizes.

They entered the pleas to the misdemeanor forgery charges at arraignments in Sacramento Municipal Court. Misdemeanor forgery is punishable by up to six months in jail and a $500 fine.

The defendants said outside of court that they had found the tickets and turned them in for prizes without knowing that they had been altered.

They were among 16 holders of forged $100 tickets who were arrested by lottery agents who lured them to the Sacramento site of the “Big Spin” jackpot game in late March with promises of additional prizes and money in a special drawing.

Lew Ritter, the lottery’s security chief, said the elaborate sting operation was held “to set an example (and) to dramatize the futility of attempting to rip off the public with phony tickets.”

Nancy Anderson, a 41-year-old San Jose schoolteacher and one of those charged Friday, told a reporter that she found her ticket in a mailbox at school. She said it might have been placed there by a vindictive student.

The remaining defendants had other arraignment dates. Another court appearance was scheduled for July 31.

Lottery officials, meanwhile, announced the names of 20 more Californians chosen to take part in the televised “Big Spin” show that offers a grand prize starting at $3 million.

Their names were drawn from those who purchased winning $100 lottery tickets in Game 5.

Chosen for the May 10 spin were Kermit Peterson of Nuevo; Rosa Prays, Long Beach; Mitsuo Shigeta, Los Angeles; Charles Adams, Los Angeles; Luis Payes, Los Angeles; Adeline Caeton, Santa Nella; Alfred Barrett, Rio Linda; Thanh Lam, Monterey Park; Stanley Gitlo, Beverly Hills, and Marina Simonians, Northridge.

Chosen for the May 17 spin were Natalia Vargas, Hughson; Jose Alvarez, Anaheim; Mark Ford, Sacramento; Cindy Lniespeck, San Jose; Karl Judd, Vallejo; Lloyd Cisco, Fort Bragg; Silva Herrera, Duarte; Ronald Cosenza, Milpitas; Nichols Balingit, Canoga Park, and Elmer Moon, Valencia.

In the “Big Spin,” contestants spin a six-foot wheel for a progressive jackpot that starts at $3 million and increases by $65,000 each time someone fails to hit it. They are assured of winning at least $10,000. The value of the grand prize today starts at $8.33 million and could increase to as high as $9.24 million.