Woman Admits
to Stealing Lottery Tickets
A former convenience store
clerk has pleaded guilty to stealing thousands of
dollars' worth of scratch-off Hoosier Lottery tickets
from two stores she managed.
Karen Valentine was sentenced Tuesday to two years
in a work-release program and ordered by a Vanderburgh
County Circuit Court judge to pay $2,500 in restitution.
Valentine said she took only $2,000 to $3,000 worth
of tickets from the two Busler stores in Evansville
where she had worked. However, an outside audit
found the combined ticket shortages for the two
stores she managed totaled $27,013.20.
Valentine said she helped herself to one or two
$1 lottery tickets each time a customer bought a
series of tickets.
She told the court she only took one or two tickets
a day.
"I don't buy your story about one or two a
day. That's unbelievable," Magistrate David
Kiely told Valentine in court.
Defense attorney Chris Lenn suggested others had
the opportunity to steal the tickets. Valentine
was the only on-site employee at both stores.
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