Iowa agents release video in lottery ticket mystery, seek public's help

DCI Hot Lotto Ticket Clip WMV from IowaDPS on Vimeo.

DES MOINES — Iowa law officers released surveillance video Thursday of a man who bought a multi-million dollar lottery ticket at a Des Moines convenience store in December 2010 hoping for a break in identifying him or determining if any bad happened to him beyond not collecting his winnings.

Dave Jobes, assistant director of the state Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), said authorities are seeking the public's help in identifying the person in the video at the Quick Trip on East 14th Street near Interstate 80 as part of what he characterized as a fraud investigation stemming from the bizarre lottery mystery.

'We're hoping for a very wide distribution of this,' Jobes told an afternoon news conference where the video was played. He declined to comment on whether authorities also had surveillance video from the parking lot or any other evidence associated with the case.

'DCI agents would like to identify and speak with the purchaser of the ticket to further the investigation,' according to a division press release. 'At this time, there is no indication that the ticket owner committed a crime.'

Investigators have been trying to untangle the Hot Lotto mystery ever since an attempt was made to redeem the $14.3 million winning ticket in late 2011. It was delivered to the Iowa Lottery by FedEx. Less than two hours before the deadline for claiming the jackpot, Crawford Shaw, a New York attorney, came forward to file paperwork to claim the prize. Shaw said he was acting on behalf of Hexam Investments -- a trust based in Belize, which is known as a tax haven.

However, Iowa Lottery officials refused to pay the prize because of questions about the ticket's ownership. Shaw withdrew his claim in January 2012 and the prize money was ultimately forfeited.

Jobes said Shaw is cooperating with investigators who have followed leads to Houston, Texas, and Canada, where they interviewed a person 'who helped a lot' in the ongoing probe but questions remain unanswered – including the identify of the individual who made the initial purchase and his whereabouts.

'We'd like to know the whole story from beginning to end and that's a chunk we don't know right now,' Jobes said after the press briefing. 'It's possible we have a victim out there that we don't know about.'

DCI officials began their investigation in late 2011 after the Iowa Lottery received phone calls from a person claiming to be the original purchaser of the lottery ticket and provided the 15-digit security number printed on the lottery ticket.

The person did not, however, match the video surveillance evidence and subsequently admitted he was not the original ticket purchaser, according to investigators. He later said he was representing another party that wished to remain anonymous and wanted to file a claim of ownership with the lottery.

'This has been – and continues to be – one of the biggest lottery mysteries in the country, likely even the world. It's certainly the strangest situation we can recall in our lottery's 29-year history,' said Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich in a statement.

'It appears that a person or a group of people may have attempted to commit fraud against the lottery and the state of Iowa,' Rich added, saying 'we continue to ensure that we have systems in place to protect the lottery and its resources against fraud attempts. We remain ever cognizant of our duty to protect the integrity of the Iowa Lottery and its games.'

Jobes noted that Iowa's statute of limitation on a fraud investigation is three years from the last point of activity, but he declined to set a timeline on when the window for authorities to bring criminal charges would expire.

Click here to watch surveillance video from the ticket purchase, plus other information.