Couple burglarizes lottery retailer on Christmas Day
Includes video report
By Kate Northrop
FORT DODGE, Iowa — A California couple are facing multiple felony charges each after stealing an Iowa Lottery ticket kiosk and attempting to cash $135 worth of winning tickets.
Two California residents are facing felony charges — as well as potential prison time and thousands in fines — over just $135 worth of lottery tickets.
Rather than spending it with friends, family, and loved ones, Robert Price and Samantha Flippo spent Christmas Day breaking into a Fort Dodge convenience store with a crowbar. There, the couple allegedly stole an Iowa Lottery ticket kiosk.
According to investigators, the pair then cashed in winning tickets worth $135 at the Kwik Star on Triton Drive in Fort Dodge.
The jig was up when they were caught trying to present tickets marked as stolen during another burglary at a gas station on W Main Street in Sac City on Dec. 29, court documents read.
Price is facing 16 counts of lottery theft and a burglary charge, while Flippo is facing 17 counts of lottery theft. If they are found guilty, they will be convicted of a Class D felony, which, according to Iowa Legislation, carries a maximum prison sentence of five years and a fine of up to $10,245.
VIDEO: Watch the report
They don't even look like your typical methheads. Wonder what their story was..."We were just trying to get gas money to go home."
They really cashed in: (3 hots (meals) and a cot (bed)) x2 for 5 years.
How does the saying go: Play stupid games, win stupid prizes!
I thought the exact same thing. They look like typical neighbors.
Why isn't it common knowledge how well the lottery tracks scratch cards? It's the most worthless thing you can steal from a convenience store, and leads the cops right to you, lol.
Well that worked out great. If they hadn't been caught they'd soon be rich doing this or maybe not.
BobP
who needs meth when spending your vacation days visiting grandma in iowa in the dead of winter can drive even the sanest person mad.
Here in N.C. the budget is tight, so all they get is two hots, bologna sandwich, and a cot. lol
"breaking into a Fort Dodge convenience store with a crowbar. There, the couple allegedly stole an Iowa Lottery ticket kiosk"
Not sure how they do it in Iowa but in KY bar codes are scanned when they refill a Kiosk. Price and Flippo might as well wore signs saying "please arrest me" when they tried to cash the tickets.
How does the lottery track scratchers? We sent bar code numbers xxxxx-xxxx to store abc?
Correct, however have you used an IGT machine in KY and then it won't scan? That's when the person who loads the machine does not activate the scratch tickets. Just yesterday a Trucker scanned his ticket to show me this and he was not happy.
Basically like that. The packs have control numbers, the lottery knows exactly which stores have which packs. When the store alerts the lottery to the theft, the lottery invalidates or flags all the scratchers from those packs.
Bought Cash Ball tickets at a Five Star and the scanner, kiosks and terminal couldn't scan them. Never had a problem scanning scratchers. Thought it was a printer problem with the kiosk and bought tickets from the terminal. None of their scanners could read them either.
Are the touch screen kiosk IGT machines?
In this area, greater Louisville, all of the machines that I've encountered are touchscreen. There are still the old style IGT machines here and there, especially from what I've seen outlying areas. Not sure if they're being replaced.
One ticket seems to have misprinted for me on a draw game and could not be scanned anywhere. Looked it up and of course not a winner! Often wonder why QRS codes aren't used on lotto tickets, especially scratch ones.
How can anyone in the western world not know by know that stealing scratch tickets and trying to cash them in does not work. It cannot work. You will be caught. Most criminals who break into stores overnight do not even look at the lottery tickets because they know.
My question is, were they only able to get the scratch off tickets that lay loose at the bottom of the lottery kiosk machine, once opened. It is odd that they were only able to get scratch tickets totaling $135. All that trouble for that small amount of money.
Lots of stores around here have both Kiosks types and maybe because the touch screens don't take play slips. A clerk at the store where I bought the tickets with the bad bar codes blamed it on the kiosk printer and/or paper.
That playslip gizmo reminds me of what an idiot did. You scan the scratch ticket above as you know. this fool forced the scratch ticket into the playslip thing and shut the whole machine down.
Happened to me once. Wasn't a lot of money, but frustrating. At least, the negligent clerk put the card with the activation info in the bin with the tickets so it was a quick fix.
Bad printers must be contagious and happened to me again on Saturday. Won a free ticket playing Cash Ball and couldn't cash it because the bar code wasn't printed correctly. There was a line so I didn't ask the clerk to enter the numbers manual.
Weird that printers in two different stores are misprinting tickets.
Every time I read what they allegedly stole keep thinking one #. Instead of $135, $125 comes to mind.
One TWO Five years in the pen!!