Lottery Scratch Off Addict Arrested

Tuesday, November 21, 2006 posted 12:20 PM EST

A convenience store clerk was arrested last week for her crimes involving Lottery Scratch Off Tickets.

Rowena Martinez, 42, of Panama City Beach, started working at the Phillips Store on Thomas Drive three weeks ago. Shortly after she started working at the store, other store employees started noticing that $10 and $20 Lottery Scratch Off tickets were missing.

The store launched an investigation to figure out what was happening to the missing lottery tickets.

Surveillance camera footage revealed that Martinez was taking the tickets, hiding them under the counter and scratching them to see if they were winning tickets. She would then place the tickets into a plastic bag to discard.

Investigators suspect Martinez would then take the cash customers gave her to pay for groceries and not ring up the items, using the cash instead to pay for the lottery tickets.

Phillips Store officials contacted the Bay County Sheriff’s Office and had Martinez arrested. When taken into custody, Martinez had 12 $20 Scratch Off tickets and two $10 Scratch Off tickets in a plastic bag ready to throw into the trash. An audit of her cash register revealed she was $200 short. Martinez was charged with Grand Theft and taken to the Bay County Jail.

An inventory is currently being done to determine exactly how extensive the store’s losses will be.

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