San Antonio, Texas Woman Arrested for Stealing $31,000 in Lottery Tickets

We all work hard for the money we earn. Sometimes it feels like its just not enough. For most of us, we find some way to earn some extra bucks through a side hustle. One of my girlfriend's friends has recently started picking up orders for Door Dash. It hasn't made her a ton of money but enough to grab Whataburger more often and fill up her gas tank. But its an honest way to earn those extra bucks. For this San Antonio, Texas woman, her way of earning some easy cash has put her behind bars.

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Alleged Lottery Ticket Theft

37-year-old Mayra Alejandra Rios was a clerk at San Antonio a convenience store. She is accused of stealing bundles of Texas Lottery scratch off tickets (KSAT). Allegedly, Rios stole these tickets to scratch off and then cash in those winnings and would also sell those tickets to her friends. In total, she is believed to have cashed in around $21,000 worth of those lottery tickets. The total value of Rios theft is believed to be just over $52,000.

How the Theft Was Discovered

The owner of the convenience store where Rios worked notice that bundles of Texas Lottery scratch off tickets were missing. When the owner looked at surveillance footage, he saw that Rios was activating the ticket bundles, that contain between 25 to 30 tickets, and then taking them from the store.

Rios is being charged in Bexar County with lottery theft and lottery fraud. San Antonio police public information officer, Jennifer Rodriguez, said that you won't be able to get away with stealing Texas Lottery scratch off tickets for long as those tickets are tracked  through their ticket numbers. This case does remain under investigation.