LJWorld.com / Criminal case against ex-lottery worker to begin

Archive for Friday, December 15, 2000

December 15, 2000

Topeka — Ten people, including former Kansas Lottery chief Greg Ziemak, of Lawrence, have been ordered by state prosecutors to appear at the preliminary hearing for a former lottery employee that starts Monday, according to court documents.

Richard Knowlton, formerly in charge of the lottery's computer system, was charged in September with altering more than 100 scratch-off lottery tickets, making them winners worth nearly $63,000.

Knowlton, of Topeka, has proclaimed his innocence. He said he altered 12 tickets to warn his supervisors that security of the lottery games could be breached.

Knowlton's preliminary hearing, which will determine whether the case will go to trial, starts Monday before Shawnee County District Judge Marla Luckert.

The file in Knowlton's case includes three large envelopes and one standard-sized envelope, filled with papers several inches thick, that are sealed from public view.

But some of the documents not sealed show that Assistant Atty. Gen. Stephen Maxwell has called current and former Kansas Lottery employees, including Ziemak, to appear at the hearing.

He has also called an Idaho Lottery official, Becky Schroeder.

In September, Ziemak announced his intention to resign Oct. 1 as executive director of the Kansas Lottery. Officials have said Ziemak's departure and Knowlton's arrest are unrelated.

Schroeder is part of the case because, according to Maxwell, Knowlton contacted Schroeder, asking her for a "huge" favor when officials began investigating Knowlton last March.

Knowlton sent Schroeder an envelope and asked her to date it March 25, 1999, nearly a year before she received it, according to Maxwell.

Inside was a letter written by Knowlton, dated March 20, 1999, in which Knowlton detailed a plan to alter tickets and cash them to demonstrate security problems, according to Maxwell.

Also on Maxwell's list of witnesses is Kevin Scott, who was fired from his job shortly after Knowlton's arrest in September. Scott was Knowlton's supervisor.