Thief Grabs Lottery Tickets & Runs from Darien Gas Station, Suspected in Other Towns

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A thief who said he’d buy lottery tickets worth $240 from the Exxon gas station at 1358 Post Road, then grabbed them and ran off, police said — and police believe he and an accomplice have done the same thing in Norwalk, Bethel, Trumbull and Ridgefield.

Suspected thief Exxon gas station lottery tickets 8-9-16

Close-up picture from a video surveillance recording showing one of the the suspected thieves, this time in a different shirt.

Police think the same thief stopped at the Gulf gas station downtown to cash in other lottery tickets previously stolen. Video surveillance records in Darien and elsewhere have given police a good idea about what the thief and his car look like.

So perhaps the lottery ticket thieves are, ah, pressing their luck.

Here’s what happened in Darien, according to police reports:

The suspect at the Exxon gas station (from the store's video surveillance camera)

The suspect at the Exxon gas station (from the store’s video surveillance camera)

At about 2:45 p.m., a white male, about six feet, 2 inches in height and wearing a white tank-top shirt walked into the gas station convenience store and asked to use the bathroom. The man is further described as muscular in build and wearing black Nike sneakers, a baseball cap and possibly black shorts.

Surveillance video from the store seems to show tattoos on both of the man’s forearms.

The suspect leaving a car at the gas station (from video surveillance records)

The suspect leaving a car at the gas station (from video surveillance records)

A few minutes later, the man returned and asked if the store sold birthday cards and how to get onto Interstate 95 southbound traffic lanes.

Then the man asked for $240 worth of “5X the Money” scratch-off lottery tickets, which cost $5 apiece.

The getaway car (from video surveillance records)

The getaway car (from video surveillance records)

The clerk got 48 tickets from a dispenser and put them on the counter — and the man in the white shirt scooped them up, ran out of the store and got in a dark, four-door Honda sedan that also held a passenger. The thief then sped off in the car.

Shortly before the theft a similar theft had taken place in Norwalk. Also just before the Darien theft, $100 in winnings from similar stolen lottery tickets were cashed at another Darien gas station convenience store, the Gulf station at 1044 Post Road (on the corner of Post Road and Corbin Drive). Police believe the same two men were involved in cashing in those tickets.

The suspect rushing out of the store (from video surveillance records)

The suspect rushing out of the store (from video surveillance records)

 

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