Peabody Woman Gets Probation In Lottery Scam

PEABODY, MA — A Peabody woman was sentenced to one-year probation and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine in U.S. District Court Tuesday. Bhavna Patel, 44, of Peabody, had previously pleaded guilty in September to one count of conspiracy. Federal prosecutors had accused her and two accomplices of buying winning lottery tickets at a 10 percent discount to help the winners avoid paying taxes.

George Kinslieh, 68, who has pleaded guilty to one count of filing false tax returns, is scheduled to be sentenced on June 26. Clarance Jones, 80, who has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit tax fraud and filing false tax returns, is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 13.

Prosecutors say Patel and Kinslieh, who own convenience stores, purchased winning lottery tickets from the ticket holders for cash between 2013 and 2017. They then gave the tickets Jones, who presented them to the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission to collect the winnings. The scam is known as "10 percenting."

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).