An Ohio man's scratch-off scheme earns him five to ten years

An Akron, Ohio, man is heading to prison for stealing scratch-off lottery tickets using stolen credit card numbers. Shiym Edwards, 30, was sentenced Friday to five to 10 years after pleading no contest to felony criminal enterprise.

The scheme was straightforward. Edwards walked into the Marathon gas station at 3001 Bay City Road in Midland, Michigan, and attempted to purchase $3,930 worth of Michigan Lottery scratch-off tickets. When his credit card was declined, he pulled out his phone and manually keyed in a stolen card number. No physical card was required. The scheme used a stolen number typed into a keypad.

It's a method that's harder to spot in the moment. There's no counterfeit bill, no fake ID— just a string of digits that belong to someone else.

A coordinated operation

This wasn't a one-person job. Two additional suspects were involved. Midland County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Atea Duso made that clear at sentencing, describing it as an organized group systematically stealing from people and businesses across multiple jurisdictions. Edwards faces similar charges in Ohio and other parts of Michigan, including Houghton.

Tracking the operation required coordination across multiple law enforcement agencies. Duso noted that several agencies were involved in the investigation. That kind of multi-agency effort signals something bigger than an opportunistic grab at a gas station counter.

The sentencing

Edwards's attorney, Lisa Blanton, asked Judge Michael Beale of the Midland County Circuit Court to reduce the minimum sentence from five years to three. She argued that her client had spent 442 days in the Midland County Jail since his December 19, 2023, arrest, doing serious self-reflection, and that the person described on paper didn't reflect who he is in person.

Edwards told the court he is a changed man who no longer wants prison to define his future.

The prosecution wasn't moved. Duso pushed for the five-year minimum to hold, emphasizing the organized and wide-ranging nature of the crimes. Judge Beale agreed. Five to ten years.

The cost

In addition to prison time, Edwards was ordered to pay $1,600 in restitution. Each of the two co-suspects will reportedly pay the same amount, a fraction of the nearly $4,000 taken from a single gas station in a single transaction.

As part of a plea deal, two counts of using a computer to commit a crime and a second charge of possessing a financial transaction device were dismissed.

Impact on communities

Scratch-off theft schemes may not make national headlines, but they carry real consequences: for small business owners absorbing the losses, for cardholders whose numbers get lifted and used, and eventually for the people running the schemes.

Financial device fraud is prosecuted seriously. It crosses state lines. It draws multi-agency investigations. And as Edwards is now learning, it leads to multi-year prison sentences.

The lesson? Stealing lottery tickets with a stolen card number from your phone is both traceable and prosecutable across state lines.