Police: Bluffton gas station employee caught on camera stealing lottery tickets, deodorant, candy

A Lobeco woman was charged with altering a lottery ticket, a felony, as well as shoplifting Saturday after she was allegedly caught on camera stealing lottery tickets and other merchandise from the Bluffton gas station where she worked.

A Bluffton Police Department officer charged Olivia Richardson, 19, after being called to the Parker’s Gas Station at Lake Point Drive on Buckwalter Parkway around 6:30 p.m., according to a police department report.

When the officer arrived, he found Richardson in the gas station’s back office with a supervisor, who told the officer he had viewed video footage that showed Richardson taking lottery tickets from the store.

“(The supervisor) advised so far (that) he had discovered approximately $10 in merchandise and $126 in lottery tickets,” the report said. “(The supervisor) also advised Richardson told him she had multiple lottery tickets in her car which she had stolen from the store as well.”

The stolen merchandise included two sugar wafer packages, one bag of candy, one soda and one stick of deodorant, the report said.

“(The supervisor) advised Richardson actually used the deodorant and placed it back on the shelf,” the report said.

The officer found several lottery tickets in Richardson’s vehicle. The value of the tickets found in the vehicle was not listed in the report.

Richardson was taken to a holding cell from the gas station.

While in the cell, Richardson allegedly told the officer that another employee had told her that the managers of the gas station never check the cameras and that the other employee always “gets away with stuff” while working.

Richardson said she began stealing lottery tickets and merchandise from the gas station two months ago and that she had stolen from the business during at least half of the shifts she worked, the report said.

According to Joy Nelson, spokesperson for the police department, Richardson was charged with altering a lottery ticket rather than stealing the ticket because it is not the same as cash and there is not a theft statute for the lottery.

The state statute covering lottery tickets defines crimes associated with the tickets as falsely making, altering, forging, uttering, passing or counterfeiting tickets.

Richardson, Nelson said, only had to have intent to commit any of those violations to be charged, and that removing the tickets from the gas station showed she allegedly intended to pass the tickets.

Richardson was taken to the Beaufort County Detention Center. According to the detention center and Beaufort County Court records, she was released on personal recognizance bond on Sunday.

This story was originally published September 19, 2017 at 8:44 AM with the headline "Police: Bluffton gas station employee caught on camera stealing lottery tickets, deodorant, candy."