The 23-year-old man, who works as a clerk at a gas station in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, thought for sure he had committed the perfect crime when a customer came in to buy two lottery tickets. Both lotteries contained winnings. One for 40 dollars and the other a profit of a whopping 1 million dollars, corresponding to 10.8 million Swedish kronor, writes DagensPS.
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Tossed the $1 million lottery ticket in the trash
The grand prize was nothing the customer found out about. The customer had only scratched the first box on the lottery tickets, which showed that the lottery ticket contained a win, but not the box where it says the amount won.
The customer asked the clerk to scan the tickets to double check that they were winning tickets, whereupon the clerk scanned both but only certified the $40 winning ticket. He threw the other lot in the trash.
Presumably satisfied and happy, the customer left with his $40. Then the clerk picked up the lottery ticket from the trash and put it in his pocket.
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Straight into the trap
Lottery buyers who win over $200,000 must claim their winnings through Tennessee Lottery headquarters in Nashville, writes CNN. Which the 23-year-old husband clerk did.
With his stolen profit, you can assume that he was sure that he wouldn’t have to work as a clerk at the grocery store, and he doesn’t need to either.
Tennessee Lottery Commission staff sensed foul play and held the lottery ticket for review, asking the 23-year-old to return later. When he came back, it was straight to the detention center.
The 23-year-old is now accused of theft, trial is scheduled for July 30.
Happy ending for the customer
Thankfully, the police were able to use the husband’s surveillance camera to identify the customer who had bought the lottery ticket. A day later, the police contacted him and told him the fantastic news about the win, it says Today’s PS.
“The wonderful thing about this story is that he didn’t know he won until we contacted him. Now it’s changing his life and his family’s life,” said police officer Steve Craig to CNN.
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