A trio of Riverhead residents charged with scamming a construction worker from the winnings of his $74,000 lottery ticket are expected to be arraigned on Wednesday.
According to the office of District Attorney Thomas Spota, Yalcin Nergiz, 41, Yunis Ozturk, 33, and Orhan Ozurk, 47, "deceived the winner by paying him $774 of the $74,892 payoff when he redeemed the ticket on March 18."
The men – held without bail since mid-March – were each originally charged with one count each of grand larceny in the second degree, a felony, and conspiracy in the fourth degree, a felony.
Since, Nergiz and Yunis Ozturk have been charged with two counts of criminal possession of stolen property in the second degree, two counts of grand larceny in the second degree and fourth-degree conspiracy – all felonies.
Orhan Ozturk has been since charged with all of the crimes the other to have, as well as two counts of filing a false instrument in the second degree, a felony.
They will appear for arraignment in Central Islip in front of Acting State Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho.
“An investigation by this office’s Economic Crimes Bureau, Southampton Town Police and the New York State Lotto Commission established that on March 19, Orhan Ozturk, acting in concert with his brother Yunis and accomplice Yalcin Nergiz, cashed the winning ticket at the Lottery’s Garden City customer service center and the three divvied up $48.318.27 - the proceeds after taxes," Spota said.
Police said the man who attempted to cash the Take 5 ticket has told police he cannot speak or write English.
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