Fake $1M lottery ticket could land Florida couple in prison for decades

A Florida couple is facing multiple felonies after allegedly trying to claim a forged $1 million lottery ticket at the Pensacola Florida Lottery.

Dakota Jones and Kira Enders, a couple from DeFuniak Springs, were charged with presenting a forged state lottery ticket, forging a lottery ticket with the intent to defraud and grand theft of $100,000 or more.

According to an Escambia County Sheriff's Office report, Enders and Jones cobbled together pieces of two "500X The Cash" Florida lottery scratch off tickets to create a single winning ticket.

"Each of those tickets were ripped horizontally and then carefully pieced together to become one fraudulently altered ticket using the top half of one of the actual tickets and the bottom half of the other," the report says. "That fraudulently altered ticket now visually shows that it is a $1 million prize winner."

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Enders allegedly drove to the Florida Lottery's Pensacola office March 1 and submitted the official claim form for ownership and payment of the $1 million ticket.

Six days later on March 7, Enders called the Florida Lottery and spoke to Special Agent Richard Pisanti and asked about the status of her claim. Pisanti then told her to meet him on March 11 to go over some paperwork.

Jones and Enders then drove to Pensacola and met with Pisanti, and both of them were "immediately detained and separated for investigation.

Kira Enders claims lottery ticket ripped after falling out of car

While sitting down with Pisanti, Enders said she believed the single ticket was worth $1 million, according to the report, and said she played and scratched off the ticket herself.

She also claimed she took the fraudulent ticket to three stores to get it scanned, but all three told her the ticket wouldn't scan, prompting her to take it the the Florida Lottery.

"Enders stated that the ticket was in her car and it must have fallen out because when she found it the next day it had gotten rained on," the report says. "Enders stated that she tried to scratch the ticket before it was dry and it started falling apart so she taped it so it wouldn't get more ruined than it already was."

Despite Pisanti showing Enders that the words on the back of the ticket did not match, Enders said, "What, they don't go together?" and insisted that she just hadn't taped the ticket correctly.

Dakota Jones says 'Yeah, she knew, man' after giving different story

Jones told Pisanti that he and Enders were walking down the road in DeFuniak Springs when they saw half of the lottery ticket, saying, "What if that was a winner?"

He then told Pisanti they found a second half of the ticket roughly 50 yards ahead and took them home to blow dry the wet tickets.

"Jones stated that once scratched, the ticket said a million dollars and he was like, 'No freaking way,'" the report says. "Jones advised that they did not buy the ticket and he doesn't know what Enders told us but that's the truth."

After Pisanti told Jones he had told Enders the numbers on the top and bottom of the ticket don't match, Jones apparently seems to say Enders knew they didn't match.

"I began to state, 'So she obviously knew ...' and Jones stated, 'Yeah, she knew, man,'" the report says. "Jones quickly changed what he was saying and stated that when they looked at the ticket, they thought it was legit."

Dakota Jones and Kira Enders face 40 years in prison Florida Lottery charges

Both forgery charges Jones and Enders are facing are third-degree felonies under Florida law, with a maximum of five years in state prison for each count if they are convicted.

However, grand theft of $100,000 or more is a first-degree felony and is punishable up to 30 years in state prison.

Jones is scheduled for arraignment on May 10, and an arraignment date for Enders has not been set as of Friday morning.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola Florida fake $1 million lottery ticket lands couple in jail