HUFFMAN, Texas -- A Humble man is charged with influencing scratch-off ticket winners after police said he was caught cheating the games.
In April, newly released Harris County documents showed someone sent photos of a scratch ticket with pin pricks from the Fuel Maxx 14 store in Huffman.
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An officer visited the store and looked at the scratch tickets. Police said they found four tickets with pin-prick markings through the bonus box.
The top prize for two of the tickets was $77,000, and the other two was $977,000.
According to the documents, pin-pricks are small scratches to the bonus box of the scratch ticket to determine if there is an instant winner.
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Police said surveillance video showed employee Cliford Gracias pin-pricking the scratch tickets. He was arrested this week and charged with violation of a lottery act to attempt to influence a prize of more than $10,000.
Gracias' bond was set at $10,000. He's due in court on Friday.
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