Police charge woman with rigging PTA raffle

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by Eric Marotta

News Leader Editor

Northfield Center -- The sixth time her name was called, fellow PTA members decided something was up and ended April Nellie's reverse raffle winning streak, according to Sgt. Scott Cottle, of the Summit County Sheriff's Office.

Then they called deputies to find out how Nellie, 31, allegedly rigged the raffle to win $2,450 worth of expensive baskets.

Cottle said it took a detective weeks to sort through 1,943 tickets the Northfield Center resident allegedly purchased from a party store and mixed with legitimate tickets in the empty prize baskets at a Jan. 25 fundraiser for the Northfield Elementary Parent Teachers Association.

Nellie declined to comment when reached by phone.

Cottle said Nellie was able to get access to the 22 baskets without anyone knowing and added the fake tickets, which she had signed with her name and her daughter's name. Cottle said that after the raffle ended, the PTA members found the extra tickets, which were identical in color, but had different sequence numbers.

Deputy Roger Morgan, who investigated the case, said he arrived that night around 9:30 as the crowd of around 200 was departing.

Nellie had left, but Morgan said he was able to contact her and asked her to return the six baskets.

Morgan said Nellie returned with the baskets, adding not too many words were exchanged.

"We just told her there was a discrepancy in the tickets," he said.

Cottle said Nellie was arrested around 8:45 p.m. March 13 and charged with cheating, a fifth-degree felony.

He said she will be scheduled for a preliminary hearing in the Cuyahoga Falls Municipal Court, pending referral of the case to a grand jury.

E-mail: emarotta@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3171