Police track down burglary suspects by tracing stolen lottery tickets

May 10, 2016, 10:56 am (23 comments)

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Police identified two New Jersey men who they say were caught on surveillance video stealing lottery tickets and jewelry from a home in Upper Pittsgrove Township last month.

The two suspects, identified as Joshua Robinson, 32, of Deptford, New Jersey and Eric Gilch, 28, of Blackwood, New Jersey broke into a home in Upper Pittsgrove back on April 12, according to investigators. The men encountered the family's dogs and started scouring the home until the homeowner noticed the men on surveillance video and began to address the intruders remotely, officials said. Surveillance footage shows the startled burglars fleeing from the home.

The men allegedly stole 10 New Jersey lottery tickets, three of which were $2 winners, as well as a lockbox full of jewelry and personal documents. Police say Robinson redeemed the $6 worth of lottery tickets at a liquor store in Camden about 45 minutes after the burglary, which helped investigators identify him. Police also identified Gilch as an associate of Robinson after analyzing the surveillance video.

As detectives searched for Robinson in Camden they found Gilch walking in the area of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Broadway. After Gilch was arrested for allegedly having outstanding warrants, detectives found numerous pieces of stolen jewelry in his possession, investigators said. The jewelry, which included an inscribed, heirloom wedding band, was stolen during burglaries in Collingswood and Haddon Township, according to investigators.

Gilch is charged with burglary and theft. He was lodged at Salem County Jail in lieu of $75,000 cash bail. Police continue to search for Robinson and say he will be charged with burglary and theft.

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NBC, Lottery Post Staff

Comments

noise-gate

Come out Josh..

LiveInGreenBay's avatarLiveInGreenBay

Would make for an interesting story if one of those stolen tickets was the winning powerball ticket.

sully16's avatarsully16

Just never ends.

Groppo's avatarGroppo

Quote: Originally posted by noise-gate on May 10, 2016

Come out Josh..

.

To the two crooks:

You two should be ashamed. Stealing another man's lottery tickets. And for what?  A few measly dollars?

And you both look somewhat alike, but Joshua, you look more intimidating.
Joshua, you look like you wouldn't hold back from taking a swing at the prison guard, when they finally catch you.

Speaking of which, did you know that Jay North (Dennis from Dennis the Menace) is a corrections officer at a Florida institution?  He must be about 80 years-old by now.

Anyway, both of you are white, and much better is expected from you.

Still, I'm mad as hell.  I want to be able to go to my community store and be able to get my tickets, and go back home, where I file them away safely.  But now you two shake even that confidence.   I'm gonna get a big strong safe to keep them in.

No more keeping tickets in my car. Uh-Uh. Those days are over.

It's a doggone shame that, today, the 'rest of us'  now have to take up a new, full-time hobby like
"security of our own possessions".  We can't just be lax about it, anymore.

Groppo's avatarGroppo

Quote: Originally posted by sully16 on May 10, 2016

Just never ends.

.
Ms Sully16,

You said it.

And, is this how us people are expected to spend the rest of our days, here on Earth
(always in fear of the safety of our belongings, and such) ?

 

(I'm pretty sure I know the answer).

 

Mr. Groppo

faber98

can't figure out how cashing the tickets helped since the buyer didn't write down the serial numbers more than likely. police would never go as far as to check video of people cashing tickets at every lottery store in  new jersey. crooks dumb enough to steal lottery tickets at a store will always be caught if they try to cash them but in this instance fail to see the connection the lottery tickets have with their capture.

LiveInGreenBay's avatarLiveInGreenBay

Quote: Originally posted by faber98 on May 10, 2016

can't figure out how cashing the tickets helped since the buyer didn't write down the serial numbers more than likely. police would never go as far as to check video of people cashing tickets at every lottery store in  new jersey. crooks dumb enough to steal lottery tickets at a store will always be caught if they try to cash them but in this instance fail to see the connection the lottery tickets have with their capture.

I agree faber...How do the cops know those were the stolen tickets?  Strange.

wizeguy's avatarwizeguy

Maybe he had signed the backs.

faber98

Quote: Originally posted by wizeguy on May 10, 2016

Maybe he had signed the backs.

if the cops knew his name why would they need to trace down the tickets and how would the store clerk know the name or even know about the robbery. after they are scanned to be cashed they are thrown away anyway.

noise-gate

Earlier to day l encouraged Josh to come out of hiding, to step out of the shadows - the Cops know who you are, we have now all seen your cherubic face. Bring this saga to a close.

music*'s avatarmusic*

Quote: Originally posted by noise-gate on May 10, 2016

Earlier to day l encouraged Josh to come out of hiding, to step out of the shadows - the Cops know who you are, we have now all seen your cherubic face. Bring this saga to a close.

noise-gate, I hope that Josh listens to you but do not count on it. Prison life is worse than being on the lam.

 The homeowner had the latest security and surprised the culprits. Eek

 I am thankful that nobody was hurt physically. But you do feel invaded when a burglary occurs.

KY Floyd's avatarKY Floyd

"How do the cops know those were the stolen tickets?"

Um, are any of you people familiar with the lottery? Every ticket has unique identifying numbers that the lottery put on them. A lot of tickets have numbers that  were chosen by the player. Assuming the victim picked his own numbers and knew what they were the cops just had to look for those numbers. If they were scratchers or quick picks knowing when and where they were bought will give them a good idea of the tickets' unique identifiers, so they just have to watch for them. It's possible that the cops also looked at a bunch of other winning tickets in order to find the right ones.

LiveInGreenBay's avatarLiveInGreenBay

Quote: Originally posted by KY Floyd on May 11, 2016

"How do the cops know those were the stolen tickets?"

Um, are any of you people familiar with the lottery? Every ticket has unique identifying numbers that the lottery put on them. A lot of tickets have numbers that  were chosen by the player. Assuming the victim picked his own numbers and knew what they were the cops just had to look for those numbers. If they were scratchers or quick picks knowing when and where they were bought will give them a good idea of the tickets' unique identifiers, so they just have to watch for them. It's possible that the cops also looked at a bunch of other winning tickets in order to find the right ones.

I can tell right now there's not a lot of crime in that town.  LOL!

faber98

Quote: Originally posted by KY Floyd on May 11, 2016

"How do the cops know those were the stolen tickets?"

Um, are any of you people familiar with the lottery? Every ticket has unique identifying numbers that the lottery put on them. A lot of tickets have numbers that  were chosen by the player. Assuming the victim picked his own numbers and knew what they were the cops just had to look for those numbers. If they were scratchers or quick picks knowing when and where they were bought will give them a good idea of the tickets' unique identifiers, so they just have to watch for them. It's possible that the cops also looked at a bunch of other winning tickets in order to find the right ones.

makes zero sense. they were scratchers. they would have to notify every store owner to be on the lookout for for the tickets that the person from whom they were stolen from purchased if he even remembered what time and day he bought them. they wouldn't spend all that time on this. cops sit around and joke about crime victims of this nature. this isn't law and order that fake tv show that makes people think that the cops actually care and try to solve crimes. store owners or some clerk wouldn't check a 3.00 winner to backcheck the serial number and then call the cops and hold the guy until they arrived. they cashed them way before the cops could have done all this by the way.

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