Circle K assistant manager charged after deputies say she cashed $6,600 in lottery tickets

A Circle K assistant manager in Palm Coast, Florida, has been charged with grand theft after deputies said she cashed lottery tickets that a coworker had printed by mistake and left behind the counter.

The Flagler County Sheriff's Office said a male employee accidentally printed 10 tickets valued at $660 each on August 9, about $6,600 in all, and on another worker's advice put them in a manager's book behind the counter. That employee resigned the next day. Circle K management first told deputies they believed he had taken the tickets, and he denied it, telling detectives he quit for unrelated reasons.

Florida Lottery records showed the tickets were scanned and winnings processed at the same store starting August 11. According to the sheriff's office, surveillance video showed assistant manager Leandra Tarpley, 31, of Palm Coast scanning the tickets, including the winners. Detectives allege she paid out the winnings, used part of the money to buy more scratch-off tickets, and kept the rest in cash.

Tarpley admitted to scanning tickets she found behind the counter but denied knowing they were the ones the other employee had printed, the sheriff's office said. She also told detectives she received no money from the winnings, only free tickets. Detectives said lottery records and video of her receiving payouts contradicted that.

Deputies arrested Tarpley at the gas station on September 15. She was booked into the county jail and released on a $2,500 bond. She has not been convicted and is presumed innocent.

"This woman must've thought she hit the lottery thinking she could get away with scanning these stolen tickets," Sheriff Rick Staly said in the release. "Now, the only thing she won was a trip to the Green Roof Inn." The Green Roof Inn is Staly's nickname for the county jail.

At about $6,600, the case falls inside Florida's third-degree grand theft range, which covers property valued from $750 up to $20,000. A third-degree felony in Florida carries up to five years in prison.

Florida has seen several of these cases. A Winn-Dixie worker was charged over scratch-off theft, and a postal worker was accused of taking a winning ticket from the mail. Outside the state, a Charleston Circle K worker was charged in a similar scheme and a Baton Rouge clerk was accused of skimming lottery proceeds.

Sources

Flagler County Sheriff's Office: Woman arrested for theft of lottery tickets

News 6: Circle K worker jailed after cashing stolen Florida Lottery tickets

Florida Statutes section 812.014: Theft