Man to plead in bizarre lottery tax case
Man to plead in bizarre lottery tax case
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A western Pennsylvania man is scheduled to change his not guilty plea to charges that he evaded roughly $132,000 in income taxes in the years 2009 and 2010 by having friends cash in his winning lottery tickets — which authorities say were his primary source of income.
The two-count indictment returned earlier this year says 69-year old Sherman Friend, of McClellandtown, won about $481,000 playing unspecified lottery games in those years.
Pennsylvania Lottery officials have declined to say whether they’re reviewing Friend’s case, specifically, but say they are “always cooperative with government agencies and their investigations.”
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Friend planned to plead guilty or no contest to the charges when he appears before a federal judge today.