Lotto tickets bought with bags of coins helped to bust Horace Dexter McDade and John Vincent Haile.

Apparently, the long-running scam to steal of Metro riders’ fares unraveled this week after a man in a police uniform driving a Jaguar bought thousands of Virginia lottery tickets with bags of apparently stolen coins. Lottery checker

A tip about the odd purchases led authorities to an investigation involving GPS-tracked cars, surveillance videos from Woodbridge gas stations and money drops by an Alexandria underpass. Lottery winning numbers

Now, court records show that two Metro veterans, Horace Dexter McDade, 58, of Bowie, and John Vincent Haile, 54, of Woodbridge, have been charged with conspiring to commit theft from programs of federal funds. They were arrested late Wednesday and could face five years behind bars.

Court documents also show that the two men, accused of stealing bags of coins, were doing this since at least 2010 while they worked together transporting the cash for Metro in an agency vehicle and then hiding the bags on the side of a road until after work.

McDade, an agency veteran of more than 32 years, revenue technician, services Metro rail stations’ fare machines when they break down. Haile, a cop on the agency’s police force since 1997, worked guarding the money and protecting the revenue technicians. Court records show he had repeatedly asked to work with McDade.

Both men have been suspended without pay, Haile is in the process of being fired, Metro said. The supervisor of the revenue division has been reassigned amid a review.

Authorities began investigating after the FBI received a tip about a man in a police uniform regularly visiting a Woodbridge gas station to buy scratch-off lottery tickets with $1 coins.

Investigators said he man started buying tickets with coins about three years ago, first bringing a handful to the counter.

But then he became bolder as started buying tickets almost every weekday with $500 bags of coins. Sometimes, he went back to his Jaguar parked outside for more.

Records show that all told, investigators say Haile bought at least $28,000 worth of tickets from October to December. He won at least 29 times in 2011, with winnings of $32,000.

Haile also had unexplained cash deposits of more than $150,0000 since 2008, according to a police affidavit.

The two were released Thursday afternoon after making their first appearance at U.S. District Court in Alexandria.

Neither man had a lawyer as of Thursday. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jasmine Yoon told the court that Haile should not be considered eligible for one because the police investigation showed he had enough money to pay for a lawyer.

But Magistrate Judge T. Rawles Jones Jr. noted that Haile might need one after all because some of that money might not
be available. After all, at least $150,000 of those would have to go back to the state if shown to be profit from the crime.

“The taxpayers may very well be entitled to recover those funds,” he said.