VENTURA, California – District Attorney Gregory D. Totten announced today that Camarillo resident Chadi Almoghrabi (DOB 7/8/75) pled guilty to one felony count of perjury related to the attempted theft of winnings from the California State Lottery. This case was the result of a joint investigation by the District Attorney’s Consumer and Environmental Protection Unit and the California State Lottery Law Enforcement Division.

On June 8, 2014, investigators from the District Attorney’s Office and the California State Lottery Law Enforcement Division conducted sting operations at more than 20 lottery retailers throughout Ventura County. The investigators acted in an undercover capacity and were given pre-marked lottery scratcher tickets showing a winning value of $20,000. Investigators entered each location and turned the pre-marked tickets into the retailer. The retailer is required to provide instructions on how and where to file a claim with the California State Lottery.

During one of the undercover operations, Almoghrabi was working as a cashier at Cig Store #15 Camarillo Smoke Shop. Almoghrabi accepted one of the pre-marked $20,000 winning lottery scratcher tickets from an undercover investigator. Almoghrabi verified the ticket as a winner by accessing the California Lottery computer system but failed to disclose this information to the investigator. Instead, Almoghrabi gave the undercover officer $20 in cash and kept the ticket for himself. Approximately three weeks later, Almoghrabi entered a California State Lottery Office in Van Nuys and filed a claim for the same pre-marked winning ticket representing it as his own.

Almoghrabi is scheduled to be sentenced on December 3, 2014, in courtroom 12.