SACRAMENTO – The California Lottery announced that the Camarillo mystery winner of $530,858 was identified today. Robert Sehested contacted Lottery officials after watching himself on surveillance video broadcast on the internet and through various news outlets. Sehested and his family will receive their prize winnings within the next few weeks. “I was looking to see if it was someone that I knew,” said Sehested. “When I clicked on the video on the website, I was surprised to find that it was me.”
“Through our routine validation process, we discovered inconsistencies in a claim for this prize and immediately opened an investigation that led us to this happy ending,” said Bill Hertoghe, Director of Security and Law Enforcement Division for the California Lottery. “The media was instrumental in determining the identity of the rightful owner. After agents interviewed Mr. Sehested, the investigation became a criminal inquiry. “ Because it is an ongoing investigation it is premature to disclose any further details.
Under established protocol, the California Lottery’s Security and Law Enforcement Division investigates all sizeable winners and includes reviewing surveillance footage and interviewing the claimant. The preliminary investigation results were not accepted by the California Lottery’s Security and Law Enforcement Division prompting further review to resolve inconsistencies compared to evidence provided in security measures embedded in every Lottery product. Because of these discrepancies, an inquiry was launched and the person in the video needed to be identified.