TALLAHASSEE, Fla.(WTXL) - A man was arrested for the theft of $27,500 worth of lottery tickets at the Tallahassee gas station where he worked.
Aboudacar Ouedraogo, 20, admitted to a Leon County Sheriff's Office investigator and his employer that he had taken multiple books of lottery tickets, according to a probable cause affidavit.
He was seen on store surveillance footage activating lottery tickets at a cash register at a Texaco Gas Station, 1274 Capital Circle SW, on Oct. 24,2018, court documents said. He failed to pay for the tickets.
Before the LCSO investigator was called, Ouedraogo denied to his employer that he took the tickets until seeing surveillance video of himself activating the tickets at the cash register.
After seeing the video, Ouedraogo admitted to the theft, court documents said. His employer told him he needed to reimburse the money for the stolen tickets or law enforcement would be notified. Ouedraogo said he could not provide the money.
After waiving his Miranda Rights, Ouedraogo told the investigator he had stolen from the gas station, and taken home, numerous lottery ticket books on three or four other occasions over several weeks.
Lottery tickets that Ouedraogo had a person retrieve from his Putnam Drive apartment were valued at $27,500.
The station's owner said Ouedraogo was hired to stock shelves and perform general maintenance, according to court documents. He was never trained to activate tickets and his job did not require him to activate lottery tickets.
He faces charges of grand theft of $20,000 but less than $100,000, dealing in stolen property, and using fraud to obtain property valued at $20,000 but less than $50,000.
Ouedraogo was booked into the Leon County Detention Center on Friday. He was released from jail Sunday on a $12,500 bond.
A condition of his release is that he not return to the Texaco gas station.
