Former grocery store clerk accused of stealing tickets told police she has a gambling problem
Oak Ridge police arrested the former employee of an Oak Ridge grocery store on felony theft charges after she allegedly stole and cashed lottery tickets.
General Sessions Court records indicate charges stem from incidents that occurred shortly after the lottery began in January. Charlotte A. Kuca, 33, 228 Haven Road, Oliver Springs, has been charged in connection with the theft.
She was employed at Anderson's Hilltop Market, where the alleged thefts occurred.
Court records said Mike Anderson, owner of Hilltop, notified police after noticing a loss in money from lottery ticket sales. He told police the store experienced the loss between January and March and the total loss was $5,500. On March 29, a manager told Anderson he saw Kuca, a cashier, take several tickets without paying for them, scratch off the numbers and throw them into the trash.
After Kuca left the store that day, the tickets were recovered from the trash, reports said. The total cost of the tickets was $350. Copies of the tickets were made and sent to April Golden, an employee of the state lottery, who told Anderson that the money won from the recovered tickets totaled $174. She also told Anderson the amount of money involving the stolen lottery tickets totaled $524.
Court records state that Kuca told Oak Ridge Police Detective Louis Leopper that she has a gambling problem and confessed that she had taken numerous lottery tickets while employed at the store.
Kuca was arrested Tuesday on a warrant and was taken to the Anderson County Jail, where she was later released on $7,500 bond.
Misdemeanor or felony?