Woman sentenced in theft of winning Mega Millions ticket

<p>A judge sentenced a 46-year-old woman Monday to three years probation for stealing a winning Mega Millions lottery ticket worth $175,000.</p><p>Criminal Court Judge Vincent Gaughan said Dora Leal also must do 200 hours of community service for her Dec. 13 felony theft conviction, Cook County state's attorney's spokesman Tom Stanton said.</p><p>Leal faced a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.</p><p>Winning numbers for the multistate Mega Millions lottery are drawn twice each week in Atlanta.</p><p>During her trial, witnesses testified that the Chicago Board Options Exchange clerk was checking 38 lottery tickets in December 2003 for a group of traders when a store clerk told her one was a winner and other customers began giving her high-fives.</p><p>She signed and pocketed the ticket, even though she wasn't one of the 16 people who pooled their money to play, prosecutors said.</p><p>Defense attorney Robert Kuzas had argued that Leal never tried to cash the ticket or have it validated. It has not been found. Kuzas suggested that one of the traders might have lost the ticket.</p><p>The traders were allowed to use a photocopy of the ticket to claim their prize.</p>

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