Thief yanks entire lottery ticket displays from two California businesses

Feb 20, 2020, 11:31 am (26 comments)

California Lottery

Includes video report

A lightning quick lottery ticket thief tried his luck twice, yanking California Lottery Scratchers display cases from counters in bold heists that were caught on camera at two San Gabriel Valley businesses.

The crimes were reported Jan. 22 at Smoke Rings 4 and Daily Donut in San Dimas. Store security video shows the man, dressed in athletic wear, grab the Scratchers displays in a bear hug before sprinting away, leaving a flurry of lottery tickets in his wake.

Both crimes occurred within hours on Jan. 22. The man was seen leaving both scenes in a silver four-door sedan, which also can be seen in the security camera video.

The tickets' serial numbers were reported to the California State Lottery.

The man is in his late 20s to early 30s, about 6 feet tall and 180 to 200 pounds, authorities said. He has a close-cut mustache and goatee. He was wearing a black cap with white letters, a gray hoodie, dark pants and dark tennis shoes.

The car was a newer model silver Chrysler 300C with paper plates.

Anyone with information about the crimes can contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department at 909-450-2700.

No injuries were reported.

VIDEO: Watch the surveillence footage

NBC

Comments

Bleudog101

Glad the retailers contacted the lottery with the serial #'s so they can be DEACTIVATED.   Wouldn't it be nice if they knew one was a big winner, let it stay active and then arrest him @ the lottery cashing?

hearsetrax's avatarhearsetrax

😒bet hes the other democrat 

music*'s avatarmusic*

Illegal drugs and alcohol are involved here. My guess. 

shy1979

I wonder if you scan a stolen ticket with the lottery app on your phone, if it'll report your account to the lottery office?  If it doesn't, it should.

noise-gate

You can be as fast as Sonic, but no way this thief enriched himself. Those scratchers NEED to be activated by the store scanner, or that's the message l got from a store owner a month or two ago. It goes like this: You point out what scratcher you want to purchase, the clerk pulls it off the reel, then : scans that puppy " before" handing it over. Consider " gift cards" at most stores- if those are stolen, they useless unless scanned at the checkout stand. Same thing with scratchers. Might as well dump those scratchers in your neighbor's trash can..

* Reminds me of: A story l read, whether true or false, l found hilarious. This guy or gal hands a note with " give me the money" to a bank teller, written on the back of the thief's personal deposit slip. Go figure.Cool

Bleudog101

Quote: Originally posted by noise-gate on Feb 20, 2020

You can be as fast as Sonic, but no way this thief enriched himself. Those scratchers NEED to be activated by the store scanner, or that's the message l got from a store owner a month or two ago. It goes like this: You point out what scratcher you want to purchase, the clerk pulls it off the reel, then : scans that puppy " before" handing it over. Consider " gift cards" at most stores- if those are stolen, they useless unless scanned at the checkout stand. Same thing with scratchers. Might as well dump those scratchers in your neighbor's trash can..

* Reminds me of: A story l read, whether true or false, l found hilarious. This guy or gal hands a note with " give me the money" to a bank teller, written on the back of the thief's personal deposit slip. Go figure.Cool

Rarely do I play scratchers, but you are 100% correct.   The clerk scans the barcode prior to selling it therefore activating it. 

OTOH, and off subject to haters out there, KY is pulling the plug on its RNG game Quick Bucks, it was a flop from what I could tell with mainly $14 winners.

TheMeatman2005's avatarTheMeatman2005

It's obvious that the thief is not up on the rules governing lottery scratchers or he would have known about them not being activated without the retailer scanning them at the time of sale.

Besides the police having a list of serial numbers from the stolen tickets, they have very good surveillance photos of him and his car.

Stupid is as stupid does! No No 

cottoneyedjoe's avatarcottoneyedjoe

All this talk of needing to activate scratchers... we are overlooking the possibility he merely fancied the display cases.

Soledad

Not in NY at least. The whole book is scanned once only. No way each ticket would have to be activated before selling. No way in NY. Probably would've been shot in the back running away in NY, haha.

Todd's avatarTodd

Quote: Originally posted by cottoneyedjoe on Feb 20, 2020

All this talk of needing to activate scratchers... we are overlooking the possibility he merely fancied the display cases.

I really gotta create a like button.

adamc224

"In other news, lottery ticket thief was caught with 2 free tickets and dirty hands from scratching dust." Green laugh

TheGameGrl's avatarTheGameGrl

Quote: Originally posted by Soledad on Feb 20, 2020

Not in NY at least. The whole book is scanned once only. No way each ticket would have to be activated before selling. No way in NY. Probably would've been shot in the back running away in NY, haha.

That is indeed the correct process. The packet gets activated just prior to stocking for sale to the public. 

The scanning of individual ticket is for the stores inventory and accounting cost. . Thank you for shedding some truth on the process .

noise-gate

Quote: Originally posted by Soledad on Feb 20, 2020

Not in NY at least. The whole book is scanned once only. No way each ticket would have to be activated before selling. No way in NY. Probably would've been shot in the back running away in NY, haha.

" The whole book is scanned once only."  I guess you know something thieves do not. While the rest of the country implements safety measures against lottery thieves- NY remains dumb? Where do you get your information from Solly?

noise-gate

Quote: Originally posted by noise-gate on Feb 21, 2020

" The whole book is scanned once only."  I guess you know something thieves do not. While the rest of the country implements safety measures against lottery thieves- NY remains dumb? Where do you get your information from Solly?

l stand corrected: Had to go back to June 18th 2012 ( before my time) to find a thread " Are clerks supposed to scan tickets before you pay?" Interesting comments l might add.

* Remarks from rdgrnr on that thread were funny.

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