Tennessee lottery player almost missed out on their $1 million prize when Meer Patel a gas station employee in Murfreesboro allegedly tried to keep the golden ticket for himself as the worker now faces class a felony theft.
A Tennessee store clerk was allegedly caught on surveillance footage stealing a customer’s $1million lottery ticket.
Police say the lucky winner purchased two winning Diamond & Gold scratch-off tickets from a Shell gas station in Murfreesboro and handed them over to Meer Patel, 23, the store clerk, to check.
Patel then allegedly paid the unidentified Antioch father for the $40 ticket, and told him the other ticket lost and threw it in the garbage – when in actuality it was the $1million winner, News Channel 5 reported.
Gas station worker’s theft backfires
Believing they had lost, the real lottery winner left the store not suspecting anything the wiser.
Patel was later seen on CCTV celebrating at the store after scratching off the front of the ticket and confirming its value, according to the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office.
‘Store video obtained by Investigators Vic Donoho and Greg Heiman of the Tennessee Lottery shows the clerk allegedly taking out the trash, removing the winning ticket and placing it in his pocket,’ deputies report.
It didn’t take long for Patel to brazenly try to cash the ticket, officials say.
But when Patel tried to claim the prize, lottery officials noticed ‘red flags,’ and began investigating, Det. Lt. Steve Craig told News Channel 5.
What he apparently did not realize is that lottery officials vet big lottery winners – including by checking security video from the store where the tickets were purchased.
The store clerk was quickly apprehended, and is now in custody at the Rutherford County Adult Detention Center, where his bail is set at $100,000 as he faces class A felony charges related to theft of over $250,000.
In Tennessee, Class A felonies carry possible sentences up to 60 years in prison and fines up to $50,000.
Patel is scheduled to appear in court on July 30 and remains held pending $100K bond.
Meanwhile, the Diamond & Gold scratch-off – which retails for $20 – has been returned to its rightful owner, who was unaware of the deceit.
He had only scratched off the front barcode of the lottery tickets, and asked Patel if they were winners, detectives explained.
‘If you scratch off the front barcode, it will tell you if it’s a winner or not, regardless if you scratch everything showing how much you won,’ Craig said.
When detectives later called the Antioch father to inform him of the theft and to return the ticket, he was skeptical that he had actually won, the Charlotte Observer reported.
But a detective encouraged him to claim the money, and he is now grateful to the authorities.
‘The feel-good side of the story is [the father] never knew he was the winner until we made contact with him,’ Craig said.
‘That is absolutely life-changing money.’
