A South Carolina store employee is accused of taking 2,229 scratch-off tickets without paying

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) has charged a 31-year-old Horry County woman accused of taking more than 2,000 lottery scratch-off tickets from the convenience store where she worked.

Justice Olyvia Perrin Boyd was charged September 11 with attempting to influence a game by coercion, tampering, or deception, SLED said. The South Carolina Education Lottery requested the investigation.

According to the arrest warrant, Boyd was an employee at Refuel #73 at 6297 Hwy 90 in Conway when, between June 3 and June 26, 2026, she allegedly took 2,229 South Carolina Education Lottery scratch-off tickets without paying for them. The warrant says the tickets had a cash prize value of $8,691.

Video surveillance captured Boyd taking the tickets and either concealing them or handing them to several other people, the warrant alleges. It does not name anyone else, and SLED's announcement lists no other charges.

Boyd was booked into the J. Reuben Long Detention Center. The 15th Circuit Solicitor's Office will prosecute the case. She has not been convicted, and the allegations have not been tested in court.

The charge falls under Section 59-150-260(B) of the South Carolina Code, which makes it a felony to influence or attempt to influence the winning of a prize through "coercion, fraud, deception, or tampering with lottery equipment or materials." A conviction carries a fine of up to $50,000, up to five years in prison, or both. The same section bars anyone convicted under it from collecting a lottery prize or working for the lottery.

The prize figure in the warrant works out to about $3.90 per ticket across the 2,229 tickets. The warrant does not say which games the tickets came from, what they cost, or whether any of the prizes were cashed.

It is one of several South Carolina cases this summer in which the lottery asked SLED to investigate tickets taken from a store. A Charleston Circle K worker was charged in August, and two former Anderson County store employees were charged in July. In late August, a Horry County man was accused of taking tickets during a job interview at a Florence store. Those defendants are also presumed innocent unless convicted.

Store employees have access to the terminal and to ticket packs before customers do, and what a clerk can and cannot see is part of why lotteries watch retail activity closely.

Sources

SLED: SLED charges Horry County woman with lottery fraud (with arrest warrant)

South Carolina Code of Laws: Title 59, Chapter 150, Section 59-150-260