The State - News from July 10, 1986

A Fresno man believed to be the first person to go to trial on a charge of defrauding the California Lottery has been cleared by a Superior Court jury. Harry Bogosian, 60, was found innocent of trying to pass an altered lottery ticket that showed a $5,000 winner by cutting and taping two tickets together. Defense attorney Bert Hoffman said the jurors accepted testimony, including accounts of lottery workers, that Bogosian presented the ticket at the district office and asked if it was good. He said he found it in his driveway. “He didn’t hide that from anybody,” Hoffman said. “He told them he found it, it was torn, and he didn’t know if it was good or bad.”