NJ man goes on 10-store, 900-ticket lotto theft spree

Nov 17, 2015, 3:25 pm (18 comments)

New Jersey Lottery

SPRINGFIELD, N.J. — An alleged lottery ticket thief was not lucky enough to get away with stealing 900 New Jersey Lottery tickets, let alone hit the potential $5 million jackpot, according to police.

An investigation led police to arrest Andrew Miller, 20, of Scotch Plains, on Monday, and charge him with a slew of ticket thefts, said Springfield Township Det. Lt. Judd Levenson, the department's spokesman. 

Miller was found in Scotch Plains on Monday at 12:30 p.m. after Springfield police determined he had stolen at least $2,000 worth of lottery tickets from 10 different stores in N.J., including three in Springfield, Levenson said. 

Miller, who was wearing a blue North Face jacket and a royal blue  L.A. Dodgers baseball cap at one point during his "four- to five-day" ticket theft spree, was wearing the same items when he was arrested, Levenson said.

He also was found with stolen lottery tickets, Levenson said.

Besides stealing from three Springfield stores, Miller allegedly stole lottery tickets from a store each in Plainfield, Cranford, Rahway, Union, Bound Brook, Green Brook and Middlesex, the detective said. In each case, Miller's face was exposed when he asked the clerk for a pack of ten $20 or $30 lottery tickets, and then ran away when the clerk's back was turned, Levenson said. In several cases, he was wearing a "Restore the Store" shirt, he said.

Miller also abandoned an attempt to steal tickets in another Springfield store, he said.

Miller stole ten $20 rub-off lottery tickets from a Springfield 7-Eleven on Rt. 22 on Thursday at 11 p.m., authorities said, and then did the same at 10:24 a.m. on Friday at Dave's Sweet Shop. At 7 p.m. Friday, he stole ten $30 rub-off tickets from the Delta Gas station on South Springfield Ave., Levenson said.

He also asked for ten $20 tickets at 10 a.m. on Friday at Springfield Mountain Variety Store, but left them on the counter before leaving the store, Levenson said.

Springfield police used video to determine Miller drove a dark-colored sedan, the detective said, and later learned he had executed the "identical crime" elsewhere.

On Monday, Springfield Det. James Mirabile and Det. Foster Ziegler drove around Scotch Plains, where someone was cashing the stolen tickets, and spotted a parked car that looked like the Miller's.

At that moment, Miller came out to the car, inside of which was a pack of ten $20 lottery tickets stolen in Plainfield that morning, Levenson said.

He was charged with three counts of theft, one count of receiving stolen property, possession under 50 grams of marijuana, and operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license, police said.

Miller did not talk to police about his motives or intentions for stealing about 900 tickets, authorities said, and has a municipal court appearance scheduled for Nov. 25, officials said.

A message seeking comment was left Tuesday afternoon at a Scotch Plains number believed to be Miller's. 

Calling the case "unusual," Levenson said in his past 29 years a detective, he had never seen anyone specialize in stealing lotto tickets.

"If you hit the $5 million (top prize), that would be miraculous," he said. "But in reality, if you steal a whole lot of rub-off tickets, if you made a couple bucks on each of these tickets, those tickets might be worth a couple thousand (dollars)... It's a gamble, because you can steal ten tickets, and all ten of those tickets come up to be nothing."

"He was basically playing the lottery, hoping to try to win based off the tickets he stole," he added.

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NJ

Comments

music*'s avatarmusic*

Great police work!! Good news from Springfield Township, New Jersey.Party

sully16's avatarsully16

Andrew should have been restoring the shore , instead of stealing from the store.

Erzulieredeyes's avatarErzulieredeyes

One of America's dumbest criminals!

Erzulieredeyes's avatarErzulieredeyes

Quote: Originally posted by sully16 on Nov 17, 2015

Andrew should have been restoring the shore , instead of stealing from the store.

His shirt  and your comment made me laugh.

Maybe he was stealing from the store to help restore the shore from one of the ''winning'' stolen tickets..lol

New Jersey is a liberal State and he'll get slapped with community service since he was under the influence of marijuana and not thinking clearly when he decided to go on a lotto theft spree. I know people in that State that have done harder crimes and get away with little to no jail time.

mypiemaster's avatarmypiemaster

I guess in his own crazy mind, he thought lottery tickets are overpriced and should be free for anybody who is fast enough to grab them. CRAZY.

Gleno's avatarGleno

Bad move on Mr Miller's part. No No

 

On a lighter note, The Cash 5 for tonight's drawing $412K.

Don't forget to play NJ players. Lep

faber98

after the thefts i'm sure the store cancelled the serial numbers so they couldn't be cashed anyway i hope.this guy amazingly wasn't aware of that issue had he scratched a winner and tried to cash it. dumb.

JezzVim

Lock em up...... throw away the key and give 1 slice of bread and water daily.... for a month or so.

Raven62's avatarRaven62

I guess he thought he could get away with doing the crime, and will now have to do some time...

travelintrucker's avatartravelintrucker

That guy was motivated. I guess he didn't think about them not letting him keep the money if he didn't actually purchase a ticket.

travelintrucker's avatartravelintrucker

I don't think they'd come after you if this happened in Illinois. They aren't paying legit winning ticket holders.

luckyshoes's avatarluckyshoes

Hmmm ...he thought there'd be a huge winner in there, cash it and be a millionaire...(not impossible but improbable) and no one would be none the wiser.

Do not pass go do not collect 200 (?) dollars

 

If there was an easy way to easy street my kids would've thought of it by now..

RedStang's avatarRedStang

Why does NJ rename everything. Never heard them called rub off tickets. One time there i drove past a jug-handle three times because i thought i was suppose to turn at a bar.

Original Bey's avatarOriginal Bey

 Further proof that LP needs to be required reading for lottery enthusiasts. Here he would have learned about the validation process.

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