Serial California Lottery ticket burglar arrested by Los Angeles police

Authorities have arrested a man who allegedly stole California Lottery tickets from small businesses across Southern California for years. 

In a news release shared on Monday, Ventura County Sheriff's Office officials said that a multi-agency investigation, which included the Los Angeles Police Department, Camarillo Police Department and California State Lottery Investigators, identified 45-year-old Los Angeles man Raul Jr. Najera as the "prime suspect" behind the burglary spree. 

"Between 2024 and July 2025, the cities of Camarillo and Thousand Oaks were hit with five targeted burglaries," the release said. "Small business owners woke up to shattered glass, broken gates, and thousands of stolen lottery scratchers."

Investigators determined that Najera was one of the suspects involved in the alleged burglaries, which included a rotating crew of accomplices that haven't yet been identified as their probe continues. 

They say that Najera led the coordinated burglaries on vulnerable "mom-and-pop" stores, resulting in the theft of nearly $10,000 in lottery tickets. Those tickets were then "quickly redeemed in South Los Angeles" just hours after they were stolen. 

"Najera was previously linked to identical burglaries in Camarillo in 2020," the VSCO release said. "On August 12, 2025, during this investigation, Najera was caught by LAPD Investigators in Los Angeles committing a lottery ticket burglary with other co-conspirators."

After the criminal cases were presented to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office, deputies were able to obtain an arrest warrant for Najera. He remains in custody in the LA County Jail as VSCO works to facilitate his arrest and transfer.

He faces five felony burglary charges.