Cashier Charged With Stealing Customer's Lottery Ticket

A Florida cashier is accused of slipping a customer's windfall into her own pocket. Volusia County authorities say 40-year-old Walmart employee Tameka Hall was charged with grand theft after a man tried to cash a $2,700 winning lottery ticket at a DeLand store on June 14, NBC News. According to an arrest affidavit, Hall verified the win but told the elderly customer the amount was too high to pay out there, handing him a receipt with instructions and allegedly keeping the ticket. When he returned looking for it, it was missing.

A store manager told investigators that surveillance video showed Hall pocketing the ticket after the man left. Questioned the next day, Hall said she meant to give the ticket to a manager and didn't realize the customer needed it to claim his prize elsewhere, per the affidavit. She led deputies to her car, where the ticket was found among her papers. Police say they confirmed it was the customer's winning ticket; Hall was arrested and booked into the Volusia County Branch Jail.

Walmart says Hall is no longer an employee. Lottery expert Oscar Acosta tells WKMG that winners need to be careful when claiming prizes. He says they should take steps to protect winning tickets by keeping receipts, taking photos and immediately signing the back of the ticket. "You need to protect that ticket," Acosta says. "You don't want to lose track of that ticket."