Suspected lotto thief's photo released

AUSTIN (KXAN) - The U.S. Marshals Office has released a photo of the convenience store clerk accused of stealing a customer’s $1 million lottery ticket.

Pankaj Joshi, 25, is thought to have left the United States for his home country of Nepal after cashing in the lotto ticket.

Investigators with the Texas Lottery Commission said Joshi lied to customer Willis Willis, 67, when he came in to check the numbers on the lotto ticket he played regularly.

When the Grand Prairie convenience store clerk realized Willis’ ticket was a winner, investigators said he told him it was just a $2 winner and game him two $1 bills.

Co-workers at the north Texas convenience store said they knew something was up when Joshi abruptly quit after claiming he had won the lottery. His co-workers said Joshi never played the lotto.

That’s when the commission launched the investigation and discovered that Willis, a maintenance worker, was robbed of his winnings.

The process for Willis to get the money his lawyers said is rightfully his has not been an easy one.

Prosecutors have recovered about $365,000 of the winnings from U.S. banks, but the lottery commission has not been quick to hand it over.

The commission said it has a policy to pay out a ticket only once and, since Joshi turned in the winning ticket, he is considered the winner - despite the commission's investigators’ findings.

Willis’ lawyers are asking a judge in Austin to allow depositions that would lead to a lawsuit against the Texas Lottery Commission.