Florida Woman with Nine Straight Lottery Prizes Wins Trip to County Jail

For a woman cashing in her ninth scratch-off lottery ticket win of the day, Samantha Young’s luck seemed just too good to be true. And it was.

Young, 38, is a career criminal who had just helped herself to $1,500 worth of scratch-off tickets from a convenience store in Lakeland, Fla., according to Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd.

She didn’t win the lottery, but she did win a trip to the county jail,” quipped Judd in a morning briefing on Facebook.

August 4 security footage from the Circle K store on Old Kathleen Road in Lakeland shows a figure with a full face covering reaching over the counter to steal 48 lottery tickets.

Had Young been more discreet, she might have gotten away with her crime. Instead, she began cashing the tickets almost immediately at local stores, including six in one outlet alone. In all, Young collected $470 in prizes.

Meanwhile, the Florida Lottery was able to provide the Sheriff’s Office with the location and times of where the stolen tickets had been redeemed.

Investigators discovered that a vehicle associated with Young was seen in the area at the time of the theft, and later, around stores where tickets had been cashed in.

Young admitted to the crime during an interview with law enforcement at her home on August 22, the Sheriff’s Office said. She was subsequently charged with unarmed burglary, obtaining property by fraud, grand theft, and violation of probation.

According to Judd, Young has a long criminal history, including involvement in an armed robbery in South Carolina. Since moving to Florida around 2007, she has been arrested 22 times on charges ranging from grand theft to drug possession to aggravated assault.

In February, Young was released from state prison on felony probation for trafficking in stolen property, said Judd, who also described her as “not a bad-looking lady.”

“Looks can be deceiving … She’s a bad girl,” he added.