LEESBURG, Fla. – A former Circle K employee was arrested Wednesday afternoon after a manager discovered that she had taken several scratch-off tickets without initially paying for them and using the winnings to pay for the tickets later.
Leesburg Police responded to the Circle K located at 900 S. 14th St. shortly after 3 p.m. Wednesday in response to the complaint.
A store manager told officers that while watching security footage from the store, she discovered that an employee, 21-year-old Sierra Smith, had taken twelve Florida Lottery scratch-off tickets worth $300 from a display case.
According to a police report, the surveillance video shows Smith taking the tickets and scratching of the barcodes in order to scan them to determine if they were winning tickets.
The report stated that when Smith scratched a winning ticket, she would use the money won from the ticket to pay for the other tickets to avoid having her register come up short.
During an interview with Smith, she told officers that she thought she had not done anything wrong since she paid for the tickets.
Smith was arrested and charged with grand theft since she did not pay for the tickets before winning. She was transported to the Lake County Jail where she was later released after posting a $2,000 bond.
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