Grand Theft Lottery Scam NR19113rc

Los Angeles: The Los Angeles
Police Department’s Commercial Crimes Division, Burglary Special
Section Detectives were investigating a series of Grand Thefts
occurring in the Valley, Metropolitan Area and South Los Angeles.
After a lengthy investigation, Nickey Yonko was identified as the
suspect responsible for the Grand Thefts.

On August 18, 2017 to October 23, 2017, Yonko would enter several
liquor stores and request to purchase California Lottery “Hot Spot”
tickets. The store employee would print the tickets and place them
on the counter. He then would distract the employee’s attention
from the printed Lottery “Hot Spot” tickets and retrieve expired
tickets from his person and swap them out for the new valid
tickets.
Yonko placed the new tickets in his pocket leaving the expired
tickets on the counter. He told the employee he needed to retrieve
additional money from his vehicle and would not return. The
employee became suspicious when the suspect did not return and
discovered the tickets were expired and not the ones he had
printed.

The employees later reviewed surveillance video and discovered that
Yonko had switched the freshly printed “Hot Spot” tickets with the
older tickets. Yonko then walked out of the location with the
stolen lottery tickets. The suspect is responsible for numerous
grand thefts in the City of Los Angeles. The suspect is also
responsible for similar Grand Thefts in Long Beach, Monrovia and
the City of La Verne.

Nickey Yonko (AKA Steven John Adams)

On April 19, 2019, Nickey Yonko (AKA Steven John Adams) was taken
into custody.
The District Attorney’s Office has filed an arrest warrant for
Nickey Yonko in the amount $60,000.00 for the above
investigation.

Anyone with information about this case or has been a victim of a
similar scam by Nickey Yonko, contact Commercial Crimes Division,
Burglary Special Section Detective Prieto at 213-486-6940. During
non-business hours or on weekends, calls should be directed to
1-877-LAPD-24-7 (1-877-527-3247). Anyone wishing to remain
anonymous should call the L.A. Regional Crime Stoppers at
1-800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477) or go directly to
www.lacrimestoppers.org. Tipsters may also visit
www.lapdonline.org, and click on “Anonymous Web Tips” under the
“Get Involved-Crime Stoppers” menu to submit an online tip. Lastly,
tipsters may also download the “P3 Tips” mobile application and
select the L.A. Regional Crime Stoppers as their local
program.