RALEIGH -- A former Lowes Foods employee and her daughter have been charged with cashing thousands of dollars worth of stolen lottery tickets at area grocery stores and at the state lottery office over four years.
Agents with the State Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday accused Patricia A. Barakat, 44, of stealing $389,001 in lottery tickets while working at the Lowes Foods on Louisburg Road in Raleigh and on Capital Boulevard in Wake Forest.
SBI agents charged Barakat, of 3341-201 Wills Grove Lane in Raleigh, with one count of felony embezzlement and eight counts of obtaining property by false pretense, SBI spokeswoman Jennifer Canada said Wednesday.
The agents also charged Barakat's daughter, Corey Ann Montejano, 23, with nine felony counts of obtaining property by false pretense, Canada said.
Montejano lives with her mother, court records show.
The scheme began unraveling late this summer when Lowes Foods managers in Raleigh contacted the N.C. Education Lottery to report a problem, lottery spokesman Van Denton said Wednesday. Lowes had discovered that it was paying the lottery for instant tickets that weren't being sold at the grocery.
"At some point, they became suspicious of what was going on and asked for our help," Denton said.
The SBI got involved Sept. 21, after agents were contacted by the Wake County District Attorney's Office, Canada said. Six days later, SBI agents charged Barakat with one felony count of obtaining property by false pretense, she said.
Redeeming the winners
Of the lottery tickets she took from Lowes Foods, the SBI said, Barakat found eight winners, which she illegally redeemed for $11,090 in cash at local grocery stores. The winnings included one payout of $9,680 from a Lowes grocery, court records show.
The SBI says Montejano collected $34,035 in stolen lottery winnings from seven area grocery stores. They also think she redeemed two of the stolen tickets - one for $11,000 and the other for $10,000 - at the offices of state lottery headquarters on Yonkers Road.
Barakat remained in custody Wednesday at the Wake County jail. She is being held in lieu of $480,000 bail, a jail spokeswoman said.
Montejano was released from custody Tuesday after she signed a written promise to appear in court and agreed not to see her mother, according to arrest warrants.
