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Another day and another person caught trying to steal lottery tickets while at their place of employment!
$24,000 in lottery tickets stolen
Authorities announced that a woman in northern Missouri has been accused of stealing thousands of dollars worth of lottery tickets while she was at work.
Kelsey Lynn Schnetzler, 34, of Salisbury, has been charged with felony stealing, police said.
Schnetzler allegedly took about 36 books of lottery tickets with an estimated value of $24,000, according to court documents obtained by KTVO.
Between October 2023 and March 2024, Schnetzler worked at Casey's General Store in Salisbury. She admitted to police that she stole the tickets during that time.
How did she do it?
How does a person just steal almost 36 books of lottery tickets from work and not get caught right away?
Schnetzler explained in a written statement to police, claiming she would place a cup over the camera in the convenience store office. She would then take the keys to the safe where the store kept the lottery tickets.
With the cameras still covered up, Schnetzler would then put the stolen lottery tickets into her purse.
She would then scratch the tickets on her own time, but police said she did cash some of the winning tickets in at her workplace. However, she did cash some of the other winning tickets at different locations.
With the felony stealing charge against her, Schnetzler is scheduled to make her first court appearance in a Chariton County courtroom on July 23, 2024, officials said.
24 millionaires in the first 24 weeks of 2024
While Schnetzler was trying to become a millionaire while allegedly stealing lottery tickets, the Missouri Lottery was actually making millionaires with legitimate players — 24 of them, to be exact!
The Missouri Lottery recently announced that the 24th week of 2024 saw the state lottery have their 24th millionaire of the year claim their prize when a $5 million prize was claimed in Kansas City.
Lester Elder, executive director of the Missouri Lottery, said:
This is outstanding. We always enjoy making winners as we work to send funds to Missouri education, but it is just incredible to realize we have averaged a new millionaire every week so far this year.
So, we are 24 weeks into 2024 and Missouri has seen 24 millionaires get crowned. That is exciting news for sure.
The newest millionaire won on a $5,000,000 Fortune scratch-off ticket. The winning ticket was purchased at Sunny's Liquor & Tobacco, located at 3921 N.W. Barry Road in Kansas City.
The winner told Lottery officials when claiming his prize:
I hadn't won on this particular game yet, so I bought two tickets. I scratched a coin stack symbol and thought I'd just won $1 million. I kept scratching and (saw) another coin, so then I knew it was $5 million because I know the game.
The scratcher game currently has over $241 million in unclaimed prizes, including two more top prizes of $5 million, three $1 million prizes, and 36 prizes of $50,000.
Enjoy playing the Missouri Lottery, and please remember to play responsibly.
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