Attorney General Thurbert Baker announced today that a grand jury in Fulton County has returned an indictment against Harvey Collier, a former retailer for the Georgia Lottery, in a scheme to steal Georgia lottery tickets. The indictment, returned Thursday, October 12, charges that Mr. Collier, owner of K & S Foods, between March 16 and March 29, 2000, ordered over 2,300 Happy Holiday game tickets, scratched them himself, and presented the winning tickets either to other stores or to the Georgia Lottery office to redeem. He never paid for the tickets. The indictment charges Collier with 8 separate counts of theft by taking, one for each day he activated a new batch of lottery tickets.

The case was investigated by the Georgia Lottery Commission and is being prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Javoyne Hicks. No trial date has been set.