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Sylva woman indicted in lottery fraud scheme
By Carey Phillips
A Sylva woman has been indicted by a Jackson County Grand Jury for attempting to defraud a man of $21,000 in lottery winnings.
A bill of indictment on a charge of obtaining property by false pretenses was handed up on Sept. 5 against 23-year-old Jodi Gibson.
The Grand Jury chose not to indict her boyfriend, 32-year-old Shawn Adams, and the charge against him was dismissed.
The indictment stems from an Aug. 13 incident in which Gibson, a clerk at Mountain Breeze Mart across from Harold’s Supermarket, sold a winning ticket to Cecil Green of Savannah community.
Green said he presented the ticket to Gibson, who said the computer was down. She kept the ticket and called him about an hour later saying the ticket was not a winner.
Knowing he had won something, Green called Mountain Breeze owner Hugh Thompson, who contacted lottery officials. After learning a $21,000 ticket sold at his store had been cashed in by Adams, Thompson called the Sylva Police Department.
Adams said Gibson told him she bought the winning ticket while off duty. He claimed to know nothing of the scam until he was arrested.
Gibson is scheduled to appear Oct. 16 in Jackson County Superior Court.
Authorities said a judge would determine whether Green receives his money after the case has been heard. After taxes, more than $14,000 is at stake.
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