3 sought for stealing lottery tickets from Berry Hill convenience store
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – The Berry Hill Police Department is on the lookout for three alleged thieves who reportedly stole a box of lottery tickets right off the counter of a convenience store on 8th Avenue South.
The incident happened at around 9 p.m. Friday, Jan 12 at the Circle K in Berry Hill. That’s where police said two men went inside and ripped the lottery ticket box off the counter in front of multiple witnesses.
News 2 has obtained surveillance footage from the McDonald’s next to the Circle K that shows a red Ford F-150 pickup truck waiting in the driveway as a thief carrying a box of lottery tickets, valued at $2,500, runs from the Circle K to the truck.
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The thief tossed the box into the back of the waiting truck and drove away, but on surveillance, you can see the third thief still running from the store. The third thief yelled for his accomplice to stop so he could catch onto the back of the moving truck.
“They kind of start driving off without him,” Sgt. Tony Russo said.
A few moments later, body camera video from Berry Hill police officers shows two of the officers responding to the crime scene.
The clerks described the thieves as incompetent, saying one of them held the door while the other grabbed the box and ran, according to police.
The clerks recalled that rather than immediately follow his partner, the thief who held the door lingered in the store for a moment, as if he was either confused or pretending that he was not with the other thief.
“The system will tell you. That’s the crazy part. It will tell us when we scan the ticket, it will tells us if it is stolen, if it has already been scanned, if it is not from, you know, Tennessee. It will tell us everything, so I feel it’s like stupid to steal lotto,” the clerk said to investigators.
The clerk will explain that the lottery tickets will be very easy to track.
“You can track these things. You can track these things, you can cancel them. We’ve arrested people doing this before, so it’s very easy to catch someone doing this. We are hoping to do the same thing here,” Russo said.
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Police described the truck as a red Ford F-150 from around the year 2010, with a black stripe across the tailgate.
News 2 reached out to the Tennessee Lottery who sent us the following statement:
“Tennessee Lottery security works closely with any retailer who reports stolen tickets. It’s accurate that the lottery has the ability to block tickets from being cashed. The lottery also works with local law enforcement to help identify anyone attempting to cash in a stolen ticket.”
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