Tennessee shop clerk is caught on CCTV celebrating stealing customers $1MILLION lottery ticket
- Meer Patel, 23, is now in custody, with bail set at $100,000
A Tennessee store clerk was reportedly captured on surveillance footage partying after stealing a $1 million lottery ticket from a customer.
According to police, the lucky winner purchased two winning Diamond & Gold scratch-off tickets at a Shell gas station in Murfreesboro and gave them to Meer Patel, the 23-year-old store clerk, to have checked.
Patel then allegedly paid Antioch’s unidentified father for the $40 ticket, telling him the other ticket was lost and throwing it in the trash – when in reality it was a $1 million winner, News channel Channel 5 reports.
According to the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office, he was later seen on security camera footage partying inside the store after crossing out the front of the ticket and confirming its value.
“Video footage from the store obtained by Tennessee Lottery Detectives Vic Donoho and Greg Heiman shows the clerk taking out the trash, removing the winning ticket and placing it in his pocket,” officers said.
Meer Patel, 23, is in custody for allegedly stealing a $1 million lottery ticket from a customer
According to officials, it wasn’t long before Patel brazenly tried to collect the fine.
But when he went to collect the prize, lottery officials noticed “red flags” and began an investigation, Lt. Steve Craig told News Channel 5.
What he apparently didn’t realize is that lottery officials check all big winners, including the security cameras of the store where the tickets were purchased.
He was quickly apprehended and is now being held in the Rutherford County Adult Detention Center, where his bail has been set at $100,000 as he faces charges of theft over $250,000.
The store’s surveillance footage will be used as evidence against him and therefore will not be released until the trial, the sheriff’s office told DailyMail.com.
He is now due to appear in court on July 30.
Officials say a customer bought two winning scratch-off tickets at a Shell gas station in Murfreesboro and gave them to Patel to check
Meanwhile, the $20 Diamond & Gold scratch card has been returned to its rightful owner, who was unaware of the scam.
He had simply scratched out the barcode on the front of the lottery tickets and asked Patel if they had won, detectives explained.
“If you scratch off the barcode on the front, you can see if it’s a winner or not, regardless of whether you scratch off everything that shows how much you’ve won,” Craig said.
When detectives later called Antioch’s father to inform him of the theft and to return the ticket, he was skeptical that he had actually won, reports the Charlotte Observer.
But a detective encouraged him to claim the money and now he is grateful to the authorities.
The feel-good side of the story is [the father] “We didn’t know he was the winner until we contacted him,” Craig said.
“That’s money that will completely change your life.”