OKC Woman Says Stolen Lottery Ticket Was Payment For Sex

LaShauna Sewell, News9.com

OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City Police arrested a woman accused of stealing a lottery ticket, but she insisted she received it as payment for sex.

Alemayehu Yitayew, 43, told police he bought a winning lottery ticket worth $750 at JRS Travel Center at Reno and Martin Luther King on Friday, October 21. He said he tried to cash it in at the convenience store, but was told he'd have to do it at the Oklahoma Lottery Commission the following Monday.

Yitayew told police he returned to his room at The Quality Inn across the street from the convenience store. He said the suspect, 25-year-old Kyla Lee Smith, knocked on his door Sunday evening. He invited her in and the two had sex.

Yitayew said Smith left around 5:30 a.m., and at 7:30 a.m. he realized the winning lottery ticket was missing from his pants pocket.

According to the police report, Yitayew went to the lottery commission on Monday, October 24, to report the ticket stolen. He presented his receipt, which showed he bought the ticket. While Yitayew was at the commission, Smith showed up with the lottery ticket and attempted to cash it in.

When police arrived to talk to Smith, she denied stealing the ticket. She told police she ran into Yitayew at the convenience store on Friday and he asked her if she needed anything. She said he handed her the lottery ticket right after he bought it, and the two of them had an understanding that it was a payment for sex sometime in the future. Smith said she'd had sex with Yitayew several times in the past.

An investigator at the lottery commission said Smith had previously told him a different story. He said Smith had told him she received the lottery ticket on Saturday night as payment for sex when she went to Yitayew's room.

The lottery commission investigator planned to view surveillance video from the convenience store to determine if Yitayew gave the ticket to Smith. Meanwhile, police arrested Smith on a complaint of receiving/stealing stolen property.