Florida Couple Faces Charges for Alleged Fake Winning Lotto Ticket

A Florida couple has been accused of allegedly producing a fraudulent winning lotto ticket.

Kira Enders, 36, and Dakota Jones, 32, of Defuniak Springs, Fla., are charged with larceny/grand theft of more than $100,000 and passing a forged/altered state lottery ticket with the purpose to defraud, according to the Escambia County Jail’s booking database.

According to Escambia County Sheriff’s Office papers obtained by local affiliate station FOX 35 and CBS News Miami, Enders attempted to return what she said was a winning $50 scratch-off ticket from the Florida Lottery game 500X the Cash.

However, authorities informed CBS News Miami that the ticket showed clear altercations, and Enders attempted to present it to the Florida Lottery as two tickets “crudely” put together.

“They had an individual who thought that they could crudely take two tickets and put them together and pretend as if they were a million-dollar winner,” Escambia Sheriff Chip Simmons said.

According to FOX, Enders allegedly brought the ticket to a Florida Lottery office in Pensacola on March 1, where authorities promptly identified it as a “non-winner.” Enders also completed official paperwork stating that tampering with a ticket could result in legal consequences, according to a Sheriff’s Office investigation.

According to the Pensacola News Journal, Enders later called Special Agent Richard Pisanti on March 7 to inquire about the status of the ticket. The investigator instructed her to come to the Florida Lottery office on March 11, and Enders and Jones, who drove her there, were “immediately detained and separated for investigation,” according to the outlet.
An affidavit obtained by FOX states that Enders and Jones offered conflicting versions about how they discovered the winning ticket and patched it together after it was ripped up.

According to the complaint, Enders allegedly asked Pisanti, “What, they don’t go together?” Jones responded, “They are honest people and they aren’t into fraud.”

“Jones advised that he didn’t know it was a crime to bring it to the lottery office but it was not their intention to get over on the lottery,” according to the document, which was obtained by

Jones was arrested and placed in the Escambia County Jail on April 16, while Enders was jailed two days later, on April 18. Simmons told CBS News Miami that investigators saw the case as straightforward.
“I don’t think this is gonna be a made-for-TV movie type of situation because it was clear to the lottery officials, and clear to us, that she had taken two tickets with different, you know, one side had one serial number, the other side had the other serial number on it,” Simmons told reporters. “Especially whenever you pretend like you’ve won a million dollars, they’re gonna take a look at this ticket.”

Enders and Jones were released from jail on April 19 with $20,000 and $17,500 bonds, respectively, and are scheduled to appear in court on May 10, according to records from the Escambia County Jail.

It was not immediately obvious whether the couple had a legal representative to speak on their behalf.