South Carolina Man Allegedly Stole Lottery Tickets During Gas Station Job Interview

The South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) has charged a 36-year-old man with three counts of intent to defraud the state lottery on allegations that he stole a pack of scratch-off tickets during a job interview. A liquor store in Charleston is an authorized retailer of the South Carolina Education Lottery. A Florence man is charged with stealing scratch-off tickets during a job interview. (Image: Shutterstock) A SLED release and accompanying arrest warrants for Antonio Levon Ricardo Stewart detail that he applied for a job at Murphy USA, located at 2010 S. Irby Street in Florence County, and was asked to come in for a job interview on May 5, 2025. During the employment screening, state prosecutors allege that Stewart stole a pack of lottery tickets from the South Carolina Education Lottery. Later that day, Stewart tried to redeem winning scratchers at three gas stations. Two tickets passed to a cashier at the Carolina C Store and three tickets handed over at a Refuel were rejected after scans showed that they came from a pack that hadn’t been activated by a retailer. Still, a $5 ticket was fraudulently redeemed at the Friendly Neighbor gas station. All three gas stations are located along Irby, a main street in Florence that intersects with Highway 76/Palmetto Street. Stealing Lottery Tickets Makes a Bad Bet Lottery systems are heavily protected, with security around scratchers especially difficult to penetrate. To protect the integrity of the games, state-run lotteries have various security protocols that place numerous layers of protection on physical scratch-off tickets. In South Carolina, retailers scan packs shipped from the lottery to report them as “received” to the state. The South Carolina Education Lottery has more than 4,000 retailers, allowing customers to purchase tickets using debit cards and cash. Retailers “activate” the scratchers by scanning each brick’s barcode, which makes them available for sale. Once loaded into a dispenser, retailers are required to maintain shift and sales logs, which are now handled electronically. With most lottery retailers having video surveillance, theft of lottery tickets is more difficult than ever. The South Carolina Education Lottery maintains a 24-hour hotline for retailers to report stolen or missing tickets. Theft Charges Stewart was booked into the Florence County Detention Center on the three counts. Each count of intent to defraud the lottery is a felony violation punishable by five years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000. A conviction would also result in Stewart being deemed permanently ineligible to play the lottery. “A person who is convicted of a violation of [South Carolina Code 59-150-260] must not be the recipient of an award of a lottery prize or a portion of a lottery prize, and is ineligible for employment by the commission,” South Carolina Code reads. The post South Carolina Man Allegedly Stole Lottery Tickets During Gas Station Job Interview appeared first on Casino.org.