Woman arrested for stealing, cashing scratch-off lotto tickets at work

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - A 20-year-old woman is behind bars after authorities say she was stealing scratch-off lottery tickets from her job and cashing in the winnings.

Baton Rouge Police Department has in custody Daja Allen, 20, of Baton Rouge on charges of theft, false or altered lottery tickets, and skimming of lottery proceeds after it was came to light she was allegedly stealing scratch-off lottery tickets from her job.

On August 25, management from a local convenience store contacted BRPD after discovering the theft of scratch-off Louisiana Lottery tickets.

Authorities say when they watched the surveillance video in the store, the video showed Allen taking scratch-off lottery tickets from the store without paying for them.

Allen would scratch the tickets while at work, police say. According to the probable cause report, she would scratch off the barcode, scan the ticket, and if it was a winning ticket, Allen would cash in the winnings.

Police say the store lost about $5,273 in profit from the theft of the tickets and an additional $4,389 from fraudulently cashing in the winnings.

On September 8, Allen was detained and transported to BRPD headquarters where she was interviewed. In the interview, she admitted to police she had took the lottery tickets and fraudulently cashed in the winnings because her family was behind on the bills.

Allen says she used the money to help her family in paying the bills.

She was booked and transported to the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison.

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