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American Morning

Lottery Nightmare

Aired January 27, 2004 - 08:24   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It didn't take long for Erika Schmitt's dream to become a nightmare. Last week, the Massachusetts college student bought a scratch off lottery ticket that turned out to be, she says, a $20,000 winner. But, she says, the store clerk told her it was worth only 100 bucks, snatched it out of her hands. Now he's charged with larceny. Lottery officials are investigating and Erika Schmitt is still hoping for that big payoff.
Erika Schmitt joins us from Boston this morning.

Erika, good morning.

Nice to see you.

Thanks for being with us.

ERIKA SCHMITT: Hi.

Thank you very much.

O'BRIEN: My pleasure.

OK, let's get into this. You bought the scratch off lottery ticket and you said woo-hoo, I've won $20,000.

What happened next?

SCHMITT: Well, first of all, I bought the scratch ticket on Monday night and I scratched the first money dollar -- or the dollar sign, and it was a star. I scratched the second one and it was another star. I scratched the third one and it was another star. And now by that point I just kept scratching. And I waved it in the air and I was like oh my gosh, I think I won $20,000. And Tony, the guy that works at the gas station, snatched it out of my hand right then and said no, only six stars, you only won $100.

So he just said negative $100 out of the cash register and I never saw him touch the lottery register.

O'BRIEN: So he gave you 100 bucks out of the cash register...

SCHMITT: Yes.

O'BRIEN: ... took away your ticket.

SCHMITT: Yes.

O'BRIEN: What did you do with that money? Did you give it back?

SCHMITT: No. I -- I went back out into the car, where my friend Virginia was, and told her that I was like, I think that I won $20,000. So I went back in there and tried to ask him if I could see my ticket again. And he still wouldn't show it to me. So by that point I called Billy Orlando, Jimmy's dad, and he told me that I had to call the police.

O'BRIEN: You called the police.

SCHMITT: Yes.

O'BRIEN: What did the police do?

SCHMITT: Well, before I called the police, I went in and I bought another scratch ticket just so I could get the rules. And I guess that was the best thing that I could have done because of the bar code on the back. The lottery officials were able to determine that it was the $20,000 ticket because...

O'BRIEN: Well, the lottery officials were able, I think I understand that they were able to determine that in that batch was, indeed, a $20,000 ticket.

SCHMITT: Yes.

O'BRIEN: It's still unclear that yours was the one, because they say no one has actually claimed the $20,000 ticket yet.

SCHMITT: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Which is all good news for you.

SCHMITT: Yes.

O'BRIEN: What's happened to Tony, the store clerk, Anthony Reyche, at this point? He's in jail, isn't he?

SCHMITT: I'm not sure if he's still in jail. I know that he got arrested, I think Thursday night. And he had court on Friday, but he says he needs a French interpreter so court keeps getting postponed.

O'BRIEN: And that's sort of delayed everything.

SCHMITT: Yes.

O'BRIEN: What do you think your chances are of getting this $20,000? And when?

SCHMITT: Apparently the lottery officials contacted my aunt and told her that it's going to take about a year for me to get the money if the ticket isn't found. So it all relies on getting the ticket or not.

O'BRIEN: Well, you are a college student. I'm sure you can use -- hey, anybody can use 20 grand, right? SCHMITT: Yes. Twenty thousand dollars is an incredible amount of money to me.

O'BRIEN: It's a ton of money.

SCHMITT: Yes.

O'BRIEN: We hope it works out for you, Erika.

SCHMITT: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Let us know if it does. We would love to hear the rest of your story when it's all resolved.

SCHMITT: Great.

Thank you very much.

O'BRIEN: Thank you very much.

Well, while the police and the lottery officials investigate, the store where the incident took place will not be allowed to sell any lottery tickets. A strange story.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired January 27, 2004 - 08:24   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It didn't take long for Erika Schmitt's dream to become a nightmare. Last week, the Massachusetts college student bought a scratch off lottery ticket that turned out to be, she says, a $20,000 winner. But, she says, the store clerk told her it was worth only 100 bucks, snatched it out of her hands. Now he's charged with larceny. Lottery officials are investigating and Erika Schmitt is still hoping for that big payoff.
Erika Schmitt joins us from Boston this morning.

Erika, good morning.

Nice to see you.

Thanks for being with us.

ERIKA SCHMITT: Hi.

Thank you very much.

O'BRIEN: My pleasure.

OK, let's get into this. You bought the scratch off lottery ticket and you said woo-hoo, I've won $20,000.

What happened next?

SCHMITT: Well, first of all, I bought the scratch ticket on Monday night and I scratched the first money dollar -- or the dollar sign, and it was a star. I scratched the second one and it was another star. I scratched the third one and it was another star. And now by that point I just kept scratching. And I waved it in the air and I was like oh my gosh, I think I won $20,000. And Tony, the guy that works at the gas station, snatched it out of my hand right then and said no, only six stars, you only won $100.

So he just said negative $100 out of the cash register and I never saw him touch the lottery register.

O'BRIEN: So he gave you 100 bucks out of the cash register...

SCHMITT: Yes.

O'BRIEN: ... took away your ticket.

SCHMITT: Yes.

O'BRIEN: What did you do with that money? Did you give it back?

SCHMITT: No. I -- I went back out into the car, where my friend Virginia was, and told her that I was like, I think that I won $20,000. So I went back in there and tried to ask him if I could see my ticket again. And he still wouldn't show it to me. So by that point I called Billy Orlando, Jimmy's dad, and he told me that I had to call the police.

O'BRIEN: You called the police.

SCHMITT: Yes.

O'BRIEN: What did the police do?

SCHMITT: Well, before I called the police, I went in and I bought another scratch ticket just so I could get the rules. And I guess that was the best thing that I could have done because of the bar code on the back. The lottery officials were able to determine that it was the $20,000 ticket because...

O'BRIEN: Well, the lottery officials were able, I think I understand that they were able to determine that in that batch was, indeed, a $20,000 ticket.

SCHMITT: Yes.

O'BRIEN: It's still unclear that yours was the one, because they say no one has actually claimed the $20,000 ticket yet.

SCHMITT: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Which is all good news for you.

SCHMITT: Yes.

O'BRIEN: What's happened to Tony, the store clerk, Anthony Reyche, at this point? He's in jail, isn't he?

SCHMITT: I'm not sure if he's still in jail. I know that he got arrested, I think Thursday night. And he had court on Friday, but he says he needs a French interpreter so court keeps getting postponed.

O'BRIEN: And that's sort of delayed everything.

SCHMITT: Yes.

O'BRIEN: What do you think your chances are of getting this $20,000? And when?

SCHMITT: Apparently the lottery officials contacted my aunt and told her that it's going to take about a year for me to get the money if the ticket isn't found. So it all relies on getting the ticket or not.

O'BRIEN: Well, you are a college student. I'm sure you can use -- hey, anybody can use 20 grand, right? SCHMITT: Yes. Twenty thousand dollars is an incredible amount of money to me.

O'BRIEN: It's a ton of money.

SCHMITT: Yes.

O'BRIEN: We hope it works out for you, Erika.

SCHMITT: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Let us know if it does. We would love to hear the rest of your story when it's all resolved.

SCHMITT: Great.

Thank you very much.

O'BRIEN: Thank you very much.

Well, while the police and the lottery officials investigate, the store where the incident took place will not be allowed to sell any lottery tickets. A strange story.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com