Lottery ticket thief out of luck

Nov 21, 2003, 4:50 am (Post a comment)

Texas Lottery

Whoever stole 250 "Weekly Grand" scratch-off lottery tickets from an Orange, Texas Super Food Mart won't have much luck cashing the winners in.

Eva Peveto, manager of the Food Mart, said the tickets were not activated and couldn't be claimed.

Arif Raja, an employee of the store, reported the tickets missing Monday morning. He said when a man from the lottery commission came to the store to replace the old and expired tickets, he noticed a $500 roll of "Weekly Grand" missing. Each ticket is $2.

Peveto and Raja said they don't know when the tickets were taken, but it couldn't have been more than six weeks ago.

The Orange Police Department reported no sign of a break-in or damage to the store. Peveto said she thinks former employees of the store probably took the tickets.

Peveto said two men and two women who previously co-managed the store would often report items missing or stolen and the merchandise would never turn up.

"They were professional thieves, not managers," she said.

Peveto said on many occasions purchase orders weren't completed properly, or items were delivered to the store but not paid for.

She said she didn't know when the employees left or why.

Peveto and Raja both reported the missing tickets to the Texas Lottery Commission, the Orange Police Department and the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

Raja said if anyone tries to claim any winning tickets from that missing roll, all three offices will be notified.

Police said if former employees didn't steal them, then someone probably went into the store when the counter was unattended and took them.

Orange Leader

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