Thieves try to cash stolen S.C. lottery tickets in N.C.

Jul 21, 2010, 11:24 pm (30 comments)

Insider Buzz

A Gastonia, N.C., woman accused of stealing scratch-off lottery tickets from a Clover Mini-Mart tried to retrieve prize money in North Carolina and successfully cashed 27 winners in South Carolina before being caught.

Kristi Lynn Welch, 20, was booked in York County on Monday night in connection with a break-in at Borderline Mini-mart on U.S. 321 in Clover, authorities say.

Welch is one of three people facing charges in the May burglary. They are accused of cashing tickets stolen from that store, York County Sheriff's Office Lt. Mike Baker said.

Derrick Eugene Ramsey, 18, also of Gastonia is being held in Gaston County in connection with theft of an entire display of lottery tickets, Baker said. Warrants have been issued for a third Gastonia man, Jeremy Dean Pruitt, 31, but he had not yet been arrested Tuesday.

All three face charges of burglary, grand larceny, criminal conspiracy and two counts of lottery intent to defraud S.C. lottery, Baker said.

Welch cashed 27 stolen winning tickets, according to arrest warrants. Within hours of the burglary, she received prizes for seven tickets at Jacobs Food Mart on Main Street in Clover.

She also received prize money for another 20 tickets at Hot Spot in Clover on May 10 and 11, according to the warrants.

Police were able to identify Welch from surveillance video at stores where she was unsuccessful cashing in tickets, Baker said.

Welch tried — and failed — to get prize money a North Carolina retailer and at a store where the clerk knew who she was, Baker said.

Once the lottery commission is notified of theft of scratch-off lottery tickets, those ticket numbers are flagged, said Stephanie Hemminghaus, media relations manager for S.C. Education Lottery. Those ticket numbers are then marked invalid on computer systems of the 3,600 retailers in the state.

Retailers take an inventory of tickets daily, Hemminghaus said, which allows them to accurately track which tickets had been stolen in cases like these. She said there could be some lag time, however, between the thefts and the stolen tickets being reported, she said. That could be why stolen tickets were cashed.

After the tickets were flagged as stolen, a clerk in a South Carolina retailer scanned tickets Welch was trying to cash, Baker said. That same clerk also recognized Welch from prior interactions.

In the May 10 burglary, someone pried open the door to the Borderline Mini-mart on U.S. 321 in Clover before 3 a.m. Monday, according to a sheriff's report.

Deputies were called to the store by an alarm. When they arrived, they saw plastic pieces on the floor from the broken lottery box that the thieves took, the report stated.

Cigarettes and $5,000 worth of scratch-off lottery tickets and cigarettes were reported stolen. Damage to the store's door is estimated at $500.

Welch was being held Tuesday at the Moss Justice Center in York on $14,000 bond.

News story photo(Click to display in gallery)

Herald

Comments

dr65's avatardr65

..wow, Kristie, why so down in the mouth? I'll bet she had a grand old laughing time when she was raking in the dough with the stolen winners.

sully16's avatarsully16

Quote: Originally posted by dr65 on Jul 21, 2010

..wow, Kristie, why so down in the mouth? I'll bet she had a grand old laughing time when she was raking in the dough with the stolen winners.

I Agree!

billyloco

           Stupid is as Stupid does.......toooooo funny!!Big Grin

HaveABall's avatarHaveABall

Hum, more late teen and early adult products from our century-long failed U.S.A. education system! 

Are our forced property tax payer residents' schools turning out smart kids or what?  Yet another poor return on these investor's yanked monies! Shocked

konane's avatarkonane

Wonder when thieves realize scratch-offs are tracked by the lottery's central computer to which all terminals are wired in?  Clown

Also most stores have surveillance cameras in them so easy to get a photo of whoever cashes in tickets. Eek   Technology wins again.

ThatScaryChick's avatarThatScaryChick

Quote: Originally posted by konane on Jul 22, 2010

Wonder when thieves realize scratch-offs are tracked by the lottery's central computer to which all terminals are wired in?  Clown

Also most stores have surveillance cameras in them so easy to get a photo of whoever cashes in tickets. Eek   Technology wins again.

Unfortunatley, I think there are a lot of people who don't think about those things and I'm not trying to be mean, but they don't seem very smart. They just rather take from others. No Nod

Littleoldlady's avatarLittleoldlady

Quote: Originally posted by HaveABall on Jul 22, 2010

Hum, more late teen and early adult products from our century-long failed U.S.A. education system! 

Are our forced property tax payer residents' schools turning out smart kids or what?  Yet another poor return on these investor's yanked monies! Shocked

She doesn't have to be a product of a failed education system.  She could be the product of a failed parenting system.

dallascowboyfan's avatardallascowboyfan

as a former educator I Agree!

rdgrnr's avatarrdgrnr

Quote: Originally posted by HaveABall on Jul 22, 2010

Hum, more late teen and early adult products from our century-long failed U.S.A. education system! 

Are our forced property tax payer residents' schools turning out smart kids or what?  Yet another poor return on these investor's yanked monies! Shocked

                   I Agree!

Sometimes it's hard for parents to counteract the brainwashing and indoctrination kids get in public schools. When they're taught that it's "not fair" for one person to have more than another some of them will think it's then ok to take what they want.

We have some of the worst teachers in the world. Our students lag far, far behind in math and science and everything else necessary to excel in this world.

Our teachers are the highest paid in the world and when the students come out dumber every year their response is always to demand more money.

If throwing money at the problem did any good, our schools would be turning out Einsteins.

Our educational system and our teachers are a disgrace on the world stage, a national embarrassment.

msbkny's avatarmsbkny

I would like to know how much did she cash in

Littleoldlady's avatarLittleoldlady

You are another misguided idiot thinking that teachers make too much money.  We make enough money to buy some of the things for our students that their parents can't buy or won't buy to make sure that THEIR child is successful in school.  I am not dumb or ignorant.  I work extremely hard for my students to be successful.  But I am not their parents.  I bring home all of 2 grand a month.  I have to pay for my own medical, dental, life insurance, federal taxes and social sercurity and a small amount for the retirement system.  I don't see where that is SO much money.  I made more in the military.

The problem is you are another Tennesean who thinks that everything should be free.  I sorry I don't have that welfare mentality. I do believe that people should help one another. 

US teachers are highly educated and they work hard.  They have to overcome obstacles that teachers in other cultures don't have to deal with, murder in the classroom,daily fights, shootings, student disrespect, parent indoctrination,homelessness, drugs, student incarceration,(yes, even if they are locked up, they have to go to school) and sex.  We also have to deal with hungry children whose parents can't feed them or won't feed them. (took the food stamp money/or paycheck and bought drugs.) 

Tennesee is still at the bottom of the pile because of attitudes like yours.  They pay less per student than most other states. They are normally running neck and neck with Mississippi to see who can be last.

Czech's avatarCzech

Quote: Originally posted by rdgrnr on Jul 22, 2010

                   I Agree!

Sometimes it's hard for parents to counteract the brainwashing and indoctrination kids get in public schools. When they're taught that it's "not fair" for one person to have more than another some of them will think it's then ok to take what they want.

We have some of the worst teachers in the world. Our students lag far, far behind in math and science and everything else necessary to excel in this world.

Our teachers are the highest paid in the world and when the students come out dumber every year their response is always to demand more money.

If throwing money at the problem did any good, our schools would be turning out Einsteins.

Our educational system and our teachers are a disgrace on the world stage, a national embarrassment.

rdgrnr,

You are so right! But the “brainwashing” of our youth doesn’t stop in our schools. Hollywood liberals are constantly bombarding all of us with garbage designed to lower our morals, values and principles.

If this thief would have been black, her picture would never have been published. And if it were, the NAACP would be screaming discrimination. Just on aspect of the “brainwashing” of America.

The con-man Barack Obama is using new, aggressive forms of brainwashing to change the very way Americans think and feel.

Czech

rdgrnr's avatarrdgrnr

Quote: Originally posted by Littleoldlady on Jul 23, 2010

You are another misguided idiot thinking that teachers make too much money.  We make enough money to buy some of the things for our students that their parents can't buy or won't buy to make sure that THEIR child is successful in school.  I am not dumb or ignorant.  I work extremely hard for my students to be successful.  But I am not their parents.  I bring home all of 2 grand a month.  I have to pay for my own medical, dental, life insurance, federal taxes and social sercurity and a small amount for the retirement system.  I don't see where that is SO much money.  I made more in the military.

The problem is you are another Tennesean who thinks that everything should be free.  I sorry I don't have that welfare mentality. I do believe that people should help one another. 

US teachers are highly educated and they work hard.  They have to overcome obstacles that teachers in other cultures don't have to deal with, murder in the classroom,daily fights, shootings, student disrespect, parent indoctrination,homelessness, drugs, student incarceration,(yes, even if they are locked up, they have to go to school) and sex.  We also have to deal with hungry children whose parents can't feed them or won't feed them. (took the food stamp money/or paycheck and bought drugs.) 

Tennesee is still at the bottom of the pile because of attitudes like yours.  They pay less per student than most other states. They are normally running neck and neck with Mississippi to see who can be last.

What's with all the vitriol? I didn't know you were a teacher.

And based on your spelling, it's kind of hard to believe. (You have words misspelled in 3 of your 4 paragraphs) You're not teaching kids how to spell are you? If we pay you even more money, will you suddenly learn how to spell? Or did you want more money so you could take a remedial spelling class?

I'm so sorry that I've victimized you by forcing you to seek employment in a job that you think doesn't pay enough. Afterall, that's everybody's fault but yours. So sorry that we refuse to let you know what the salary is until after you start the job because if you had known, you wouldn't have taken it, right? Give me a break.

And now you want to blame me for the way kids are nowadays after generations of your liberal if-it-feels-good-do-it moral standards? Uh-Uh, no way lady. That's your baby. Your chickens have come home to roost. You wanted to coddle thugs and criminals and blame "society" instead of placing the blame where it belongs - on them - and now you are harvesting the fruits of your labor. You are reaping what you have sown. There's an old hillbilly saying once told to me by an old hillbilly, so pay attention and you might learn something: You don't plant corn and get cotton.

You should have your pay reduced until you can provide evidence that you're doing your job properly. Any raises should be given on merit and not tenure or seniority. There should be rigorous standards to be a teacher.

It's just common sense that someone who doesn't know how to spell should not be teaching our children how to spell.

 

 

rdgrnr's avatarrdgrnr

Quote: Originally posted by Czech on Jul 23, 2010

rdgrnr,

You are so right! But the “brainwashing” of our youth doesn’t stop in our schools. Hollywood liberals are constantly bombarding all of us with garbage designed to lower our morals, values and principles.

If this thief would have been black, her picture would never have been published. And if it were, the NAACP would be screaming discrimination. Just on aspect of the “brainwashing” of America.

The con-man Barack Obama is using new, aggressive forms of brainwashing to change the very way Americans think and feel.

Czech

Thanks Czech,

Yes, the education system, Hollywood, the government, the news media, they're all in the same Marxist/Progressive boat.

And they're taking us up $hyts creek without a paddle. And they can always rely on their Useful Idiots to support them.

Is it November yet?

Subscribe to this news story