Cabbie Steals Friend's Powerball Ticket Worth $50K in Record $1.5 Billion Drawing: NYPD

A Bronx cab driver has been arrested on a slew of larceny and forgery charges after he allegedly stole his friend's Powerball ticket worth $50,000 in the historic $1.5 billion drawing earlier this month. 

The victim, 66-year-old Victor Castillo, filed a report with police claiming his friend took his Powerball ticket, according to police. Police found the stolen ticket in the suspect's possession and arrested him Tuesday morning. 

The alleged thief, 44-year-old Rubelin Segura of the Bronx, was set to be arraigned Tuesday night. Attorney information wasn't immediately available. 

Segura and the victim, Victor Castillo, are both cab drivers and friends, Castillo told NBC 4 partner station Telemundo-47. The two both purchased tickets for the $1.5  billion jackpot drawing and joined other cabbies at a Bronx diner the next day to check the winning numbers.

Castillo said he matched three numbers, which qualified him for a $50,000 prize. Segura took his ticket and ran off to the same Highbridge bodega where Castillo had purchased it, and he allegedly tried to cash the ticket, then brought back a ticket worth only $4 for Castillo. 

Surveillance video from the bodega showed Castillo purchased the $50,000 ticket, workers there told the Daily News. Castillo also says he has a receipt for the ticket. 

Castillo wonders what could have led a friend he trusted and cared for like a brother to act so selfishly, he told Telemundo-47 Tuesday.

The Daily News reports Segura was behind on rent he was paying for a Washington Heights apartment where his three children live with their mother and grandmother.

He was living in his own Bronx apartment with another 10-year-old son, the paper reports. 

Segura's mother told the paper her son is "not a thief. He's an honest man." 

Castillo said he still hasn't gotten his winning ticket back and hasn't been able to cash in his prize. 

Ten people in the tri-state each won $1 million in the record-breaking $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot drawing. 

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