Month: February 2020

Pedro Garcia of Kansas City, Kansas, excitedly came to the Kansas Lottery headquarters this week in Topeka to claim his $10,000 top prize playing the $2 Crater of Coins instant scratch game.

“I don’t really play that often, and I certainly didn’t expect to win like this,” Garcia said. “I bought four tickets, and it was the first one I scratched that was the big winner. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it.”

Garcia purchased the tickets and took them home, and was sitting with his family when he figured out that he had won a big prize.

“I started yelling for my uncles to come look at the ticket,” he said. “They didn’t believe it at first, either, but we all went crazy when we realized it was real.”

Garcia says he plans to use the winnings to save up for a big purchase.

“I’m trying to buy a house right now, and this will go a long way towards the initial down payment,” he said.

The winning ticket was sold at Fast Trip on 4039 Metropolitan Ave. in Kansas City, Kansas. There are still three top prizes left in the $2 Crater of Coins instant scratch game, as well as thousands of dollars in other cash prizes.

Players can submit all their winning and non-winning tickets in the Kansas Lottery PlayOn® Players Loyalty program to earn points for drawing entries and a chance to win cash and other prizes.

A federal jury today convicted a man from Kansas City, Kansas, on drug and firearm charges, U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister said.

Larry D. Johnson, 33, Kansas City, Kansas, was convicted on one count of possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine, one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.

The crimes were alleged to have occurred May 15, 2017, in Wyandotte County, Kansas.

Sentencing is set for May 7. The defendant could face a penalty of up to 20 years in federal prison and a fine up to $1 million on the drug charge, not less than five years and a fine up to $250,000 on the charge of using a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, and up to 10 years and a fine up to $250,000 on the other firearm charge.

McAllister commended the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tris Hunt and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle McFarlane for their work on the case.