Apple Valley gas station worker charged with stealing thousands in lottery scratch-offs
APPLE VALLEY, Minn. — A longtime Twin Cities gas station employee is accused of stealing tens of thousands of dollars in scratch-off tickets last year, according to the Dakota County Attorney's Office.
The suspect, a 54-year-old Apple Valley woman, is charged with one count of felony theft in connection to the alleged crimes that took place between January and March 2024.
The criminal complaint states the store manager called police in mid-March of last year to report the employee "had been stealing and claiming lottery tickets."
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety's Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement Division had already been investigating the store, the complaint states, after she allegedly made three lottery transactions the previous month totaling $14,700 just before a Minnesota Lottery employee ran a store audit.
After the audit, she's accused of refunding "the exact same amount," according to the complaint.
In those three months, she's accused of taking a total of 88 scratch-offs, with the complaint noting in-store surveillance cameras captured her scratching them off during several shifts, redeeming the money when she won and reporting the losing ones as "loose," meaning they're damaged or lost.
Investigators say she redeemed $19,220 in cash winnings from the scratch-offs and later admitted to doing so, but claimed she "thought it may have been closer to $8,000-$10,000 as she was trying to pay some of it back," the complaint states.
She could face up to 10 years in prison and/or a maximum fine $20,000 if convicted.
NOTE: The original airdate of the video attached to this article is Dec. 27, 2024.
