Meet Patel, 23, is being held in a Tennessee jail after being charged with theft over $250,000, police say
Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office
Meet Patel
A Tennessee dad became a newly minted millionaire after winning the lottery last week. He just didn’t know it, because the clerk he asked to check the scratch-off ticket to see if it was a winner allegedly stole it and tried to cash it in for himself, say police.
The unusual ordeal began when a customer bought two $20 Diamond and Gold lottery tickets at a Shell station in Murfreesboro, Tenn., the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office said in a release Monday, CNN reports.
The customer, who did not want to be publicly identified, scratched off the bar code on the front of the tickets and asked the clerk, Meet Patel, 23, of Murfreesboro, to see if either tickets were winners, Lt. Det. Steve Craig told WTVF.
“If you scratch off the front bar code, it will tell you if it’s a winner or not, regardless of whether you scratch off everything showing how much you won,” Craig told WTVF.
After allegedly realizing that the man had won $1 million with one of the tickets, Patel was seen on videotape throwing that ticket in the garbage, authorities said in the release.
Patel was later seen on videotape allegedly taking the winning ticket out of the garbage while emptying it and putting it in his pocket, according to authorities.
“Mr. Patel is then seen later in the video celebrating in the store after scratching off the front of the ticket and learning it was a $1 million winner,” Det. Dennis Ward said in the release.
Players are required to claim prizes of $200,000 or more at the Tennessee Lottery’s Nashville headquarters, the release says. Patel tried to claim his prize in person, but was unsuccessful.
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE‘s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
“He went to the Tennessee Lottery Commission to claim the ticket as his own and through their normal line of questioning there were enough red flags for them to say, ‘Hey, you need to get all of your affairs in order and come back to us and we’re gonna hold on to the ticket,’” Craig told WTVF.
The Tennessee Lottery Commission checks into anyone who wins a big prize, which includes reviewing video of someone buying a winning ticket, WTVF reports.
“An Antioch father was surprised when @RCTNSheriff detectives informed him he won the $1 million lottery,” The sheriff’s office wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “A store clerk allegedly stole his ticket and tried to collect the prize.”
Later adding: “The father was thankful.”
Patel was arrested and charged with theft over $250,000, the release said. He is being held at the Rutherford County Adult Detention Center on $100,000 bond.
He is scheduled to appear in court for a July 30 hearing. It is unclear whether he has retained an attorney who can speak on his behalf.
For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!
Read the original article on People.
