A Tennessee gas station clerk has been arrested and charged with theft after allegedly stealing a $1 million winning lottery ticket from a customer who had asked him to check the ticket’s validity.
According to authorities, the customer had purchased two Diamond and Gold lottery tickets at a Shell station in Murfreesboro and had requested the clerk, 23-year-old Meer Patel, to verify if either ticket was a winner. Patel paid the customer $40 for one of the tickets, but told him the other was not a winner and discarded it in the trash.
However, surveillance footage revealed that Patel had actually retrieved the ticket from the wastebasket and put it in his pocket after the customer left the store. The video also showed Patel celebrating in the store after discovering the ticket’s winning status.
Lottery officials grew suspicious when Patel attempted to cash the winning ticket, prompting an investigation. The probe led authorities to review security footage, which ultimately identified the rightful owner of the ticket.
The customer, who has not been named, was reportedly skeptical when authorities informed him of his good fortune, but was ultimately grateful to claim his prize. “The feel-good side of this story is that he never knew he was the winner until we made contact with him,” said Lt. Detective Steve Craig.
Patel has been charged with theft of over $250,000, a Class A felony. He was booked into the Rutherford County Jail.
