Woman indicted for fraudulent lottery purchases

Published 7:10 am Saturday, July 15, 2017

A woman was indicted in Clark County for allegedly using six people’s identities to purchase thousands of dollars in lottery tickets.

Carol Ratliff, 26, was charged Thursday with six counts of felony theft of identity, four counts of trafficking in stolen identities and single counts of theft by deception over $10,000, first-degree unlawful access to a computer and fraudulent use of a credit card.

According to the indictment, Ratliff is accused of purchasing more than $10,000 in lottery tickets using stolen credit cards and several identities between February and April. The indictment says she used six different identities to open accounts with the Kentucky Lottery and used stolen cards to purchase tickets on 41 different occasions during those three months.

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Ratliff allegedly won $1,757, according to the indictment.

Trafficking in stolen identities and unlawful access to a computer are felonies with a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison; the others all carry a sentence of one to five years upon conviction.

The case was investigated by the Kentucky State Police in Richmond.

The following indictments were returned by the Clark County grand jury.

— Benjamin C. Harrison, second-degree burglary, first-degree persistent felony offender.

— Delina R. Sons, first-degree wanton endangerment, carrying a concealed weapon, tampering with physical evidence, first-degree possession of a controlled substance, third-degree possession of a controlled substance.

— Santana Townsend, second-degree burglary.

— Ashley N. Harley, first-degree bail jumping.

— Casey R. Creech, first-degree bail jumping, first-degree persistent felony offender.

— Mario Rashad Dalton and Teresa Mae Ross, first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance (Dalton), second-degree persistent felony offender (Dalton), complicity to trafficking in a controlled substance (Ross)

The following cases were dismissed by the grand jury.

— Jeffrey P. Hunley, theft by deception.

— Jeremiah Jones, custodial interference.

About Fred Petke

Fred Petke is a reporter for The Winchester Sun, the Jessamine Journal and the State Journal. His beats include cops, courts, fire, public records, city and county government and other news. To contact Fred, email fred.petke@bluegrassnewsmedia.com or call 859-759-0051.

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