Store manager defrauds lottery with "false impression" that he was a real winner
By Kate Northrop
A Nebraska man was arrested for allegedly stealing lottery tickets from his workplace and fraudulently claiming a $300,000 prize.
Following an investigation, Nebraska state police arrested a convenience store employee who allegedly stole Nebraska Lottery tickets from his workplace and successfully cashed in a winning ticket worth $300,000.
Jeremiah Ehlers, 49, of Greeley, was charged with one count of theft by deception of $5,000 or more.
On April 12, 2024 in the late afternoon, Ehlers, a store manager at Greeley Rapid Stop on West O'Neill Avenue in Greeley, claimed a $300,000 top prize from the $30 "Diamond Dollars" scratch-off ticket at Nebraska Lottery headquarters in Lincoln. Per usual, the Lottery published a press release along with a photo of Ehlers standing proudly with his large, ceremonial check.
However, this was not any ordinary prize claim.
Rapid Stop District Manager Marty Leidal, who oversaw Ehlers' store in Greeley, had been suspecting him of stealing lottery tickets from the business without paying for them since October 2023, an affidavit reads. Leidal fired Ehlers on April 19, 2024.
Leidal's suspicions were confirmed when he reviewed store surveillance footage from the morning of April 12, 2024 that recorded Ehlers taking the "Diamond Dollars" ticket without paying for it, scanning the ticket twice on a lottery terminal, and then paying for the ticket afterwards.
Ironically, Ehlers' responsibilities as a store manager included being trained in proper procedures for selling lottery tickets, as well as overseeing other employees on the sale of tickets. The morning he was seen stealing the ticket, he was the only employee working at the store.
An affidavit states that Ehlers gave Lottery officials the false impression, or failed to correct a false impression, that he lawfully acquired the winning ticket. The ticket was validated, and as a result, he was paid a Nebraska state treasury warrant for $213,000 after required taxes were withheld.
"Tickets are void if they are irregular, misprinted, stolen, unissued, altered, counterfeit or fail any validation test," text on the back of a Nebraska Lottery ticket reads. Ehlers signed his name and printed his personal information directly above this line on the $300,000 winning ticket.
Leidal contacted the Nebraska Lottery investigation unit on April 23, 2024 to report his findings, according to an affidavit. The check for the winnings had already been deposited into multiple banks accounts owned by Ehlers.
Affiant Deputy State Sheriff Bradley Burleigh, who has worked on several Nebraska Lottery investigations since November 2022, was assigned to the case. He interviewed Greeley Rapid Stop employee Karen Quijada, who revealed that Ehlers had purchased a 2019 Dodge Ram for $28,000 in cash following the prize claim.
Ehlers had also given her a check for $1,530 and explained to her that it was to "pay back some money that was missing from the store," documents state. Quijada also told Burleigh that Ehlers had been contacting multiple parties around Greeley to settle monetary debts.
On April 29, 2024, Burleigh obtained a search warrant for Ehlers' bank accounts to seize the remaining money before it disappeared for good. Of the $213,000 that was paid out to Ehlers, authorities were able to obtain $128,769.31, the Deputy State Sheriff said. The missing $84,230.69 was found to have already been spent on two vehicles, contractor services, and several payoffs.
Ehlers was taken into custody after a warrant for his arrest was issued on Jan. 3, 2025. He was held on a percentage bond of $5,000 and would have had to pay $500 to be released. As of this week, however, Ehlers no longer appears under the Lancaster County Department of Corrections current inmate list.
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Well, this is a question from someone that lives in a State that doesn't sell scratchers.
Can a store employee scan a scratch ticket and if it's not a winner put it back in the unsold pack?
Forgive my ignorance.
They can reveal the bar code in order to scan the ticket to see if it's a winner. But it would be difficult to sell the ticket with the bar code removed.
the only way to tell if the ticket is not a winner is to scratch off some or all of the barcode. before they switched to 2-d barcodes, the tickets used to have zebra stripe type barcodes. a dishonest employee could rake a pin over the coating perpendicular to the stripes and get all the info they needed while not leaving much of a mark. nowadays you'd have to remove a lot more of the coating to get something readable. then i guess sell it to a someone who isn't observant enough to notice the ticket is already scratched?
how dumb is this guy that he didn't realize he was on camera?
Thank you Tony for the enlightenment.
I was worried that one could scan and put it back in.
Thank you Brock for shading some light on my ignorance.
I think he was trying to be smart by paying for the ticket after scanning it. Those that did not win anything he just did not pay for them.
I wonder how he would hand over his shift - sales and cash in hand.
It's probably hard to realize any mischief unless one does an inventory count.
Pure Dummy 🤢
What do they mean not on the prisoners list? Got off Scott free, trial, plea?
He's a baaaaad boyy
He's not smiling anymore!
So the district manager suspected the perp in October 2023, but didn't fire him until April 2024? The DM should be fired, too- his lack of urgency cost a paying lottery customer a chance at $300,000. That's still a nice chunk of change in the Midwest.
He sure isn't
The DM and the lottery took the time to conduct a thorough investigation. It would have been unfair to fire the employee based upon suspicion only.
Sorry but I feel like the store manager is a B!tch for that. Why wait till he's won a prize collected check then contact the lottery like "He stole that ticket and allegedly he's been stealing tickets. He collected prize 4/12, you fire him on 4/19 and 4/23 you contact Nebraska lottery. Hes been stealing without paying for the last 6 months and it was never a problem till the guy won the prize. He saw that man's picture for the jackpot prize got jealous and said im going to ruin it all for him. An the footage was available all the other days he's suspected the guy of stealing.