Store clerk charged in theft of Lottery ticket

Sam Grair, also known as Osama Ghrair, was arrested Mon., June 26 by investigators with the Ventura County district attorney's office on charges relating to a California Lottery ticket worth $530,858 he allegedly stole while working at a local liquor store, authorities said.

Grair, 42, was charged with grand theft, burglary and filing a false claim after he told Camarillo resident Robert Sehested that his winning lottery ticket was worth only $4, district attorney's officials said.

Grair was back in court on Tuesday and pleaded not guilty on all counts.

Sehested bought the ticket on his birthday--Feb. 14--at Crossroads Market and Liquor in Camarillo and returned the next day to find out if the ticket was a winner. According to reports, Grair scanned the winning ticket, paid Sehested a small amount of money and then tried to cash in the ticket a few weeks later.

According to Lottery officials, the search for the ticket's true owner began when Grair was unable to successfully answer questions asked during a standard verification interview.

Norma Minas, a Lottery spokeswoman, said all claims of $600 or more must be made at the Lottery's district office. The district office that serves Ventura County is in Van Nuys.

When Grair couldn't answer the questions correctly, detectives posted to the Lottery's website a few minutes of footage taken from the store's security camera, showing Sehested and his wife buying the ticket. Detectives hoped the video would help them find the ticket's true owner.

Sehested said he was shocked when he came across the footage while surfing the Internet. He called Lottery officials to tell them he had purchased the $500,000 ticket, and an investigation was soon underway to verify Sehested's claim.

In early April, the California Lottery paid Sehested his rightful winnings.

Mike Grair, owner of the liquor store, would not comment as to whether or not he is related to Sam Grair, the clerk accused of stealing the ticket.

The owner said, however, that he worked with detectives to help in the investigation.

"I gave the local people every possible piece of evidence," Grair said. "We cooperated for hours to get what (Lottery officials) were looking for."

Sam Grair is being held at the County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail, authorities said. He faces a maximum sentence of 19 years in state prison.