Minneapolis man charged with 8 counts of lottery fraud

A Minneapolis man is facing more than a half-dozen charges of state lottery fraud.

Michael Kenneth Small, 38, is charged with eight counts of state lottery fraud.

A criminal complaint states that two people pulled up to Winner Gas Station in New Brighton at around 5:15 a.m. on Jan. 20. It goes on to say one person then smashed a window with a wrench, went inside and stole several lottery tickets before the two people left.

Since the Minnesota Lottery tracks where each ticket is sold and redeemed, it was able to determine that Small and another man allegedly tried to redeem additional stolen lottery tickets at seven St. Paul locations on Jan. 20.

The complaint notes that Small was charged in at least six cases across four counties for redeeming stolen lottery tickets.

Small is already at the Hennepin County Jail after Minnesota troopers saw him driving a vehicle the wrong way near Interstate 494 and Rockford Lane shortly before 1 a.m. on May 21. When authorities tried to stop him, he fled all the way to Rogers, then turned around and drove the right way back toward the metro area. Eventually, according to a complaint, the vehicle stopped in the back of a home in the 4400 block of 43rd Avenue South and Small, and the passenger went into the home.

Officers arrested them after the people in the home said the men weren’t allowed in the house.

Small faces DWI, burglary and fleeing police charges from that incident, as well as a host of other charges from unrelated cases.

He’s set to have a court hearing on June 24 in connection to the wrong-way driving and pursuit, but no court date has been set at this time for the lottery fraud charges.

Each felony charge of lottery fraud carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine, if convicted.