Lottery employee charged with Embezzlement

On the brink of the Powerball jackpot topping $500 million, a former state lottery official may spend up to a decade in prison on embezzlement charges.

54-year-old Anthony McNeil was charged Tuesday with embezzlement stealing more than a quarter-million dollars from the lottery over nearly a two year period.

Court documents say McNeil worked in the lottery’s finance office in Columbia and embezzled 226-thousand dollars by manipulating electronic records and overcharging lottery retailers, directing them to deposit funds to an account under his control.