Store clerk stole $1M lottery ticket from unsuspecting winner, police say

globalnews.ca:

A Tennessee store clerk is in hot water after authorities say he stole a customer’s winning lottery ticket, threw it away and later fished it out of the trash and tried to claim the winnings as his own.

Meet Patel, 23, was charged with theft over US$250,000, according to the Rutherford Country Sheriff’s Office.

According to a police news release, the real winner bought two winning Diamond and Gold scratch-off tickets worth $20 each at a Murfreesboro, Tenn., gas station. To save time, instead of scratching off the game on the tickets, he only scratched the bar codes and asked Patel to check to see if they were winners.

One of the tickets had a winning prize of $40, which Patel handed over to the winner, police say. But the other ticket, with a whopping $1-million winning prize, he dropped into the garbage can and told the customer it wasn’t a winner.

An Antioch father was surprised when <a href=«https://twitter.com/RCTNSheriff?ref_src=» https:>@RCTNSheriff

detectives informed him he won the $1 million lottery.
A store clerk allegedly stole his ticket and tried to collect the prize.
Meer Patel, 23, of Murfreesboro was charged with theft over $250,000.
The father was thankful. pic.twitter.com/8pOP0pEs2q

— RCTNSheriff (@RCTNSheriff) <a href=«https://twitter.com/RCTNSheriff/status/1815500481655087269?ref_src=» https:>July 22, 2024

Store video obtained by investigators at the Tennessee Lottery showed Patel scanning the tickets and dropping one into the trash. However, later on, the footage shows Patel allegedly fishing the ticket out of the garbage and putting it in his pocket.

“Mr. Patel is then seen later in the video celebrating in the store after scratching off the front of the ticket and learning it was a $1 million