A brazen thief wearing a white hoodie walked calmly into a Newhall gas station kiosk Monday night, grabbed a Plexiglas box of “scratcher” tickets and ran from pursuers as he cradled the box bigger than a microwave oven.
Retail value of the haul was $4,000.
California Lottery officials, however, say the tickets were immediately voided, leaving the thief with tiny pieces of “scratch and win” ticket stubs of no value.
The burglary happened about 9:30 p.m., at the Newhall Fuel station on Lyons Avenue at Atwood Boulevard.
The whole incident was captured on video surveillance.
“The suspect probably got around 2,000 scratchers, value of $4,000,” said Shirley Miller, spokeswoman for the SCV Sheriff Station.
The owner and manager of the store said he was upset over the incident and closed up the store when deputies finished interviewing him.
“I phoned the lottery people to cancel,” the owner said.
Greg Parashak, spokesman for California Lottery, said: “Yes, the tickets get voided. We are able to cancel them immediately.”
“California Lottery provides display cases for Scratchers tickets to retailers,” he said.
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