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Topeka — A former Kansas Lottery employee accused of using rigged scratch tickets to steal more than $62,000 pleaded innocent Monday.

Richard Lee Knowlton, 55, also waived his right to a preliminary hearing. His jury trial is scheduled to begin April 30 in Shawnee County District Judge Marla Luckert's courtroom.

Knowlton, who once was in charge of maintaining the lottery's computer system, is charged with 268 counts of theft, computer crime and official misconduct.

State prosecutors have accused Knowlton of altering codes within the lottery's computer system to turn 139 losing scratch tickets into winning ones.

Of these 139 tickets, prosecutors say, Knowlton cashed 126 between Sept. 21, 1998, and March 13, 2000. Thirteen tickets have yet to be accounted for.

Knowlton has admitted altering 12 tickets and cashing 11 as part of a personal campaign to expose lax security within the lottery. He has denied being involved with the remaining 127 tickets.

Knowlton, who remains free on bond, was silent for most of the 15-minute hearing Monday. He showed no emotion.

An Oct. 10 gag order prohibiting Knowlton and other witnesses from discussing the case with reporters remains in effect.

During the hearing, defense attorney William Rork asked Luckert to lift an earlier court-imposed ban on Knowlton's owning or having access to a computer.

Rork said his client needed a computer to sort through and respond to more than 2,000 pages of documents that prosecutors used in developing their case again him.

But Assistant Atty. Gen. Stephen Maxwell argued that Knowlton should not be trusted because "no computer is impenetrable."

Luckert denied Rork's motion, siding with Maxwell's objection.

Afterward, Rork quipped: "I guess they think the lottery isn't secure," a reference to Knowlton's claim that he doctored tickets only to expose holes in the lottery's security system.

Rork said Knowlton waived his preliminary hearing because it would not have ended with a ruling on his guilt or innocence.

And, Rork said, he doubted the preliminary hearing would reveal much that isn't already known about the state's case against Knowlton.

"The state's evidence basically is what's been presented," he said.

Court documents show Maxwell was prepared to call 10 witnesses, including former lottery executives Kevin Scott and Greg Ziemak.

Then-executive director Ziemak announced Sept. 11 three days before charges were formally filed against Knowlton that he had resigned, effective Oct. 1, to pursue other opportunities. But a Journal-World investigation revealed that Gov. Bill Graves had called for Ziemak's resignation because of concerns about ineffective leadership.

Scott, director of administration at the lottery, was fired Oct. 2 by Ed Van Petten, Ziemak's replacement. No reason was given.

In an earlier interview with the J-W, Knowlton said he began altering tickets only after his attempts to call the holes in the security system to Ziemak's and Scott's attention were turned aside.

None of the 10 witnesses was at the hearing Monday.