Newport man sentenced in lottery scam

A Newport Beach man was sentenced Tuesday to six months in jail after he admitted to running a Scratchers lottery ticket scam in which he redeemed winners and sold losers to customers at a liquor store where he worked.

Francis Bou Karam pleaded guilty to three felonies: computer access and fraud, forgery and grand theft, with sentencing enhancements for a white-collar crime over $100,000 and taking funds of more than $50,000, according to court records.

Prosecutors moved to dismiss more than 20 other counts of forgery after Karam’s plea.

Karam worked at Craig Liquor in Santa Ana between Jan. 1, 2013, and Nov. 13, 2014, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

During that time, he would scratch off a tiny portion of lottery tickets to see if they were winners, prosecutors said.

Karam collected about $50,000 from winning tickets and sold the losers to unsuspecting customers, according to the district attorney’s office.

As part of his sentence, Karam was ordered to pay about $150,000 in restitution to the California Lottery and $3,500 in fines.

He also will spend three years on probation, during which he won’t be allowed to work at any lottery retailer, according to court records.