Man breaks into Murfreesboro shop, steals lottery tickets
A man was hoping to win it big over the weekend when he stole several lottery tickets from a Murfreesboro business.
Police will most likely be checking to see if the same man could be responsible for stealing tickets from several other stores in the city over the past few days.
The suspect was captured on surveillance driving up the Smoke & Brew on East Main Street in what appears to be a Ford Explorer Sport Trac pickup. He gets out of the vehicle with what police later find out to be a crowbar.
The man goes straight for the electric meter in the rear of the building, cuts the wire, and the power to the business shuts off.
“The screen goes black and then he comes around the back and tries to pry open the backdoor with a crowbar,” said clerk Megan Ruck.
The suspect then comes around to the front of the store and breaks out the glass door.
“He comes in and throws our register on the ground, he steals a couple of lottery tickets, and some packs of cigarettes and then he’s out,” Ruck told News 2.
The suspect was looking to win it big. He went after the $30 Mighty Jumbo Bucks lottery tickets with potential winnings up to $3 million.
“It’s very hard to get away with stealing lottery tickets; it’s basically pointless to steal a lottery ticket and try to cash it out,” the clerk said.
That’s because each lottery ticket has a tracking number, and lottery officials know what store the tickets are issued to and where they are cashed in.
“You are stealing from the state of Tennessee as well as students and things like that that get scholarship off of these, and people that pay ‘em and, you know, you’re losing a chance if it’s a million-dollar winner. It’s no winning for you because they are stolen,” Ruck explained.
Store workers said the suspect left two crossbars behind, one at the back door and the other one at the front. He also left behind a torn lottery ticket.
Ironically, over the past week, someone stole lottery tickets from at least four other Murfreesboro businesses, reaching around the counter while the clerk was busy or assisting customers.
That’s why folks at Smoke & Brew have been leaving up the photo of the suspect who stole from them so everyone can see.
“Hopefully we’ll get him caught, get him off the streets, you know, before he harms somebody else if he wants to come in and use a weapon on somebody,” Ruck said.
Again, according to incident report the man was driving a maroon Ford Explorer Sport Trac pickup in the most recent lottery ticket heist. If you recognize the vehicle or have any information that could be helpful, please call Crime Stoppers at 615-893-STOP.
Courtesy of WKRN News 2
