{"id":40338,"date":"2026-10-04T11:27:02","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T16:27:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/?p=40338"},"modified":"2026-10-04T11:27:02","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T16:27:02","slug":"video-usps-carrier-accused-of-stealing-winning-florida-lottery-ticket-from-mail-claiming-prize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/2026\/10\/04\/video-usps-carrier-accused-of-stealing-winning-florida-lottery-ticket-from-mail-claiming-prize\/","title":{"rendered":"Video: USPS carrier accused of stealing winning Florida Lottery ticket from mail, claiming prize"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WNDmLCR_1qM?si=MgaXZ9Nap7v4QO0O\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"custom-subheadline\">Lottery winner mailed winning ticket to relative for funeral expenses, authorities say<\/h2>\n<p>BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 A United States Postal Service employee from Broward County is facing multiple felony charges after investigators say she stole a winning Florida Lottery ticket from the mail and fraudulently claimed a $2,600 prize.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">According to the Florida Lottery, the case stemmed from a joint investigation by the agency\u2019s Division of Security and the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Investigators said the investigation began after a Florida Lottery player reported that a winning Pick 4 ticket she mailed through the U.S. Postal Service never arrived at its intended destination.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">According to an arrest report, the winning ticket was purchased at a Publix store in Tampa and was worth $2,600. Because the prize exceeded the $599 maximum payout that can be claimed at a lottery retailer, the terminal instructed that the ticket be returned to the player, investigators said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">They said the winner later mailed the ticket to a relative in Fort Lauderdale to help pay for another person\u2019s funeral expenses, but the ticket was never successfully delivered.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">A Florida Lottery inspector determined the ticket was instead redeemed June 19 at the Florida Lottery\u2019s Miami District Office by 28-year-old Lakaysha Kenya Lockhart. Investigators later identified Lockhart as a USPS letter carrier assigned to the Oakland Park post office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">According to her arrest report, Lockhart, who has listed addresses in Lauderhill and Hollywood, \u201cwas not known to, approved or authorized by the ticket owner\u201d to redeem the winning ticket.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Authorities said Florida Lottery special agents and USPS OIG investigators conducted a joint operation that led to Lockhart\u2019s arrest on July 23. They said Lockhart admitted after her arrest to stealing the winning lottery ticket and redeeming it at the Miami District office. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/news\/local\/2026\/07\/31\/usps-carrier-accused-of-stealing-winning-florida-lottery-ticket-from-mail-claiming-prize\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Lakaysha-Kenya-Lockhar-495t.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-40339\" src=\"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Lakaysha-Kenya-Lockhar-495t.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"495\" height=\"280\" srcset=\"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Lakaysha-Kenya-Lockhar-495t.jpg 495w, https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Lakaysha-Kenya-Lockhar-495t-300x170.jpg 300w, https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Lakaysha-Kenya-Lockhar-495t-123x70.jpg 123w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 495px) 100vw, 495px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lottery winner mailed winning ticket to relative for funeral expenses, authorities say BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 A United States Postal Service employee from Broward County is facing multiple felony charges after investigators say she stole a winning Florida Lottery ticket from the mail and fraudulently claimed a $2,600 prize. According to the Florida Lottery, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,72,89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking","category-theftandfraud","category-postal-crime","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40338"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40340,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40338\/revisions\/40340"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}