Indian Store Clerk in Tennessee Arrested for Allegedly Stealing Customer’s Winning Lottery Ticket

Meet Patel, 23, who worked at a Shell station in Murfreesboro was caught on surveillance video camera as he lied to customer and pocketed the $1 million prize.

An Indian store clerk in Tennessee has been arrested for stealing a customer’s winning lottery ticket and trying to claim the $1 million prize himself. Meet Patel, 23, who worked at a Shell station in Murfreesboro, was allegedly caught on surveillance video stealing the lottery ticket. He lied to the customer, and even went to claim the prize, the Charlotte Observer reported.

The lottery ticket winner bought two $20 Diamond and Gold scratch-off tickets from Patel, and handed him back the tickets to check, according to Rutherford County Sheriff’s Department. Patel returned one of the winning tickets along with a $40 prize — “while ignoring the fact that the other one had won $1 million,” Lt. Detective Steve Craig told News Channel 5. Patel threw the ticket on top of the trash and then took the trash outside after the winner left. “If you follow him on the camera you can see him grab the ticket and put it in his pocket,” Craig said.

Patel also went to the lottery commission to claim the ticket as his own. But as lottery officials “vet all big winners, including checking security video of the tickets purchased video,” there was enough evidence that the ticket was stolen.” “It’s pretty obvious. Good enough to put in front of 12 jurors and they’ll reach the same conclusion,” Craig told News Channel 5. Theft on a million-dollar ticket is a Class A felony.