CAPE CORAL, Fla. — On Thursday, Cape Coral Police said they charged a Cape Coral gas station employee with stealing between $5,000-10,000 worth of lottery tickets.
Back on January 3, 2024, a Cape Coral Public Information Officer told Fox 4 that officers responded to RaceTrac, located at 3010 NE Pine Island Rd, for a theft.
Officer Mercedes Phillips said officers met with the store manager who said he was reviewing recent transactions from the store due to numbers being short.
After watching video footage, Phillips said the store manager observed his employee, Michael Allen Thompson, allegedly taking lottery tickets and money from the register on a variety of different dates.
Phillips said detectives immediately started working on the case.
Their investigation revealed that Michael Thomas allegedly stole an estimated $5,000-$10,000 in lottery tickets.
He also reportedly cashed in some of his winning tickets with money from the RaceTrac register.
Phillips said detectives did not have to search far to find Thompson.
"When the detective went to interview him, he was already in custody of the Lee County Sheriff's Office," she explained.
Phillips clarified that Thompson was already in custody for unrelated charges.
Thompson is being charged with grand theft and dealing in stolen property.
