Rochester woman hits jackpot at Vegas, but money goes missing in transit
A woman from Rochester says she hit the jackpot in Las Vegas — and then everything went downhill.
When Amini Kellum got back home Wednesday and opened her suitcase, she says the money she won at a casino was gone.
She admits she packed the winnings in a purse and buried it at the bottom of her suitcase and checked the luggage. So she believes somewhere between Las Vegas, Orlando and Rochester, the money disappeared.
“And then before my trip I said, ‘Oh, I got a feeling I’m going to hit in Vegas. And I actually hit in Vegas,’” Kellum said.
Inside a Vegas casino last weekend, Kellum picked the right slot machine.
“It was like ding! ding! ding!” she said.
The receipt from the Circus Circus Hotel and Casino says Kellum won $12,752 on Saturday, May 4 at 9:02 a.m. Kellum wrapped the winnings in an elastic band, stuffed it in a purse and hid it in her suitcase. The trip home, on Spirit Airlines, went from Vegas to Orlando, then Orlando to Rochester.
Kellum’s luggage made the flight from Orlando, but she missed it. When she returned to Rochester the very next day, she came to the Spirit Airlines counter at the Rochester airport to pick up her bags.
Berkeley Brean: “You open it up. You go into the purse and you’re looking for the money and it’s not there.”
Amini Kellum: “It’s not there.”
Brean: “And what did you think?”
Kellum: “My heart just fell. Like, how stupid can I be? Like, you put your money in there? How stupid can you be? I was just so heartbroken. Right now, I still be having dreams. I can’t even really sleep.”
One of the first things the federal Department of Transportation says is not to put valuables, like cash, in your checked baggage. But Kellum thought doing that was safer than carrying it.
“I want my money back, but there has to be something in place so no one else will have to go through this situation again,” she said.
Kellum filed a report with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. News10NBC confirmed the report, and the Sheriff’s Office says it is investigating whether anything happened at the Rochester airport.
In an email to News10NBC Friday, Spirit Airlines wrote, “we are aware of the allegation, and we are investigating.”