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A Michigan woman is in a South Carolina jail after she recently cashed in winning lottery tickets, according to the state Law Enforcement Division.
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In August, Keaysha Sincere Warren — a 23-year-old from Flint, Michigan — was charged with three counts of intent to defraud, counterfeit game tickets, SLED said Tuesday in a news release. There was no word why the Michigan woman was in South Carolina.
The crimes occurred in two separate Midlands counties, according to the release.
On Monday, Warren was booked into the Orangeburg-Calhoun Regional Detention Center on one of the counts, SLED said. Later that same day, Warren was transferred to the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Richland County where she was charged with the two remaining counts, according to the release.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Warren remained behind bars in the Columbia jail after bond was set at a combined $50,000 on the two Richland County charges, records show.
The crimes happened June 22, according to arrest warrants. On that day, Warren redeemed multiple stolen scratch-off lottery tickets at the Pilot Travel Center (at 1300 Burke Road in St. Matthews), as well as the Spinx gas station/convenience store (at 7232 Garners Ferry Road in Columbia) and again about 2 miles away at the Food Lion grocery store (at 7830 Garners Ferry Road), arrest warrants show.
Warren and several co-defendants are accused of stealing the lottery tickets, also on June 22, from the Hot Spot (at 553 John C. Calhoun Drive in Orangeburg) and Pitt Stop (2022 Bluff Road in Columbia) gas stations, according to arrest warrants. Information about the identity, and number, of co-defendants was not available.
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Both the stealing and cashing in of lottery tickets was recorded by surveillance cameras, arrest warrants said.
Information about the number of tickets that were passed and the amount of prize money that was received for the stolen games was not available.
Because the crimes happened in separate Midlands counties Warren will be prosecuted by both the 1st and 5th Circuit Solicitor’s Offices, according to SLED.
If convicted on the felony charges, Warren faces a maximum punishment of 5 years in prison and a $50,000 fine for each count, according to South Carolina law.
The SLED investigation was requested by South Carolina Education Lottery.
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