Couple allegedly tries — and fails — to con Florida lotto out of $1 million jackpot

A Florida couple recently met up with agents from the state lotto, apparently expecting to receive a massive payout, only to be arrested for alleged fraud instead.

On March 1, 36-year-old Kira Enders walked into a Florida Lottery office in Pensacola and handed an employee there an allegedly winning 500X The Cash scratch-off ticket with a grand prize of $1 million. She even filled out the back portion of the ticket, which reportedly notes that any falsifications on the ticket can result in criminal prosecution.

It appears that agents immediately suspected a problem because the ticket was later declared a "non-winner." Whether the agency initially intended to investigate the problems with the ticket is unclear. However, when Enders called less than a week later for an update on her alleged winnings, she likely forced the agency's hand.

Enders was invited to meet with a lotto special agent on March 11. She and her 32-year-old boyfriend, Dakota Jones, then drove to the designated meeting location. Rather than walk out with a hefty check, the two were quickly separated and interrogated about the ticket.

Apparently, the winning ticket was actually two separate tickets that had been taped together and then laminated. Escambia Sheriff Chip Simmons indicated the "two tickets" had been put together "crudely" to try and create "a million-dollar winner."

It seems that Enders and Jones also gave drastically different explanations for the ticket pastiche. According to reports, Enders initially told police she couldn't remember where she purchased the ticket. She then must have had a moment of clarity because she later stated she bought it at a Winn-Dixie but that it had fallen out of her car in the rain and tore in two when it became wet.

She explained that she taped the two pieces together to rectify the problem, not to deceive anyone, the affidavit indicated.

She then allegedly expressed bewilderment when the serial numbers on different sides of the ticket didn't match. "What, they don't go together?" she allegedly stated. She also called the revelation about the mismatched serial numbers "insane" and that her "mind" was "blow[n]," the affidavit said.

By contrast, Jones reportedly told investigators that the couple had randomly stumbled upon the winning ticket while walking down the street. He claimed that the ticket was already torn when they found it, but he advised his girlfriend not to tape it together or to submit the taped ticket to the lotto agency because it looked "jank," the affidavit said.

Jones also allegedly insisted to investigators that he and Enders are "honest people" who had no intention of trying to pull a fast one on the lottery. "When they looked at the ticket, they thought it was legit," he indicated, according to the affidavit

Enders and Jones have both been charged with three crimes: forgery/alteration of a lottery ticket with intent to defraud, passing a forged/altered state lottery ticket, and larceny-grand theft of $100,000 or more. Enders was released on $20,000 bail, and Jones was released on a bail of $17,500. Both have a hearing scheduled for May 10.

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