Attorney: Man used lottery ruse to get bail

TACOMA — A man who falsely claimed he had won a $93 million lottery jackpot used the same story to persuade a bail bonding company to get him out of jail, authorities said.

Hillary Lee Walls, 27, of Parkland was ordered back to jail yesterday after a bail bondsman revoked the bond he had granted Walls.

“Basically, he was using the winning lottery ticket as the security for the bond,” said Michael Austin Stewart, a lawyer representing C. J. Johnson Bail Bonds. “And obviously, the winning lottery ticket could not be used for the bond.”

Walls was initially jailed after he appeared on television claiming to have the winning ticket in the Mega Millions game, and detectives recognized him as having outstanding forgery and theft charges.

Pat and Dick Warren, a retired couple from Hoquiam, produced the winning ticket and claimed the jackpot Tuesday after Walls was arrested.

Walls bailed out Tuesday afternoon after the bonding company provided $15,000 bail, but required that Walls produce the money within 24 hours.

Yesterday afternoon, Walls was back in court, where he pleaded innocent to charges that he tried to steal from Osborne-McCann Cadillac Hummer in Tacoma.

Prosecutors allege he had tried to use the lottery jackpot to buy a $140,000 Hummer from the Tacoma dealership.

Walls is being investigated in other fraud cases. He is scheduled to stand trial in December on charges he scammed someone out of money, bought a truck, then sold it.