2 Pa. prison guards suspended over illegal lottery

UNIONTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Two guards at the State Correctional Institution-Pittsburgh are charged with keeping nearly $15,000 they raised in an allegedly illegal lottery to benefit the family of a dead colleague.

Twenty-eight-year-old Michael Helman, of Youngwood, and 35-year-old Christopher Kruppa, of Charleroi, were charged Thursday with theft, conspiracy and running an illegal lottery.

Police say the men organized a gun raffle based on Pennsylvania lottery drawings over a two-week period in July to benefit the family of a guard who died in a car crash in 2008.

The men allegedly collected $20,000 by selling 1,000 tickets for $20 each, but only spent $5,402 on cash and gun prizes. The rest of the money is missing.

A prison official says guards charged with felonies are suspended without pay.