Thief confesses he "needed money," but cashing attempts are baffling

By Kate Northrop

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A Florida man stole seven books of lottery tickets from a retailer and then returned to the same store hours later to attempt to cash them in.

A Florida man went on a back-and-forth robbery spree in May, stealing seven books of lottery tickets and repeatedly trying to cash in the winning tickets at two different stores.

On the evening of May 5, 2025, Justin Farley, 43, visited the Circle K convenience store at 1598 54th Avenue in St. Petersburg, pulling up in a gray Hyundai sedan. In the span of ten minutes, according to an affidavit, he entered the store, momentarily spoke to the employee, and went into the retailer's back office. There, he opened multiple cabinets and snatched seven books of lottery tickets, which amounted to $7,000 in value, The Independent said.

Afterwards, he drove off to the 7-Eleven at 8405 4th Street North in St. Petersburg and arrived about a half-hour later. He tried, unsuccessfully, to cash in the winning tickets from the collection of books that he stole.

Farley returned to the Circle K he originally stole the tickets from, easily identifiable since he wore the same clothes as when he committed the theft, and again tried to redeem the winning tickets less than two hours after he stole them.

The interaction took no more than ten minutes before he was on the road again to head right back to the same 7-Eleven store that had previously refused to cash the tickets.

The clerk, who is identified in the affidavit as "AB," was sitting behind the counter when an unknown individual wearing a black mask, black gloves, a yellow shirt, and jeans entered the store and jumped over the counter. He pointed a black handgun at her, which was later discovered to be a plastic replica of a Glock firearm.

The man told AB to open the cash register, which she did. He took most of the money out of the register, about $120, and pocketed it. Then, he ordered AB to the back room of the store where a safe was located, but she told police following the incident that she did not have access to the safe. After the interaction, the robber stole a pack of cigarettes from behind the counter, climbed over, and left the store.

Surveillance footage shows that the vehicle the robber arrived at the 7-Eleven in is consistent with the same vehicle that Farley showed up in to steal the lottery tickets at the Circle K store and at the 7-Eleven for his failed cashing attempt. Security footage inside the two stores also shows that Farley and the armed individual appeared to be wearing similar colored underwear and a pair of jeans that has a hole near the right knee.

Three days after the armed robbery was reported, police identified Farley as the suspect who stole the lottery tickets and confirmed his identity with the Circle K employee who saw him before the tickets were stolen.

Police attempted to track Farley driving in his gray Hyundai Elantra throughout St. Petersburg via license plate reading systems, but they were unsuccessful since his car had a dark colored license plate cover over the license plate. During daylight hours, they observed Farley drive by a camera and noted that it did not register his license plate in the system, likely due to the dark plate cover.

"Based upon my training and experience, I know suspects utilizing vehicles to commit armed robberies as well as other various crimes will use license plate covers to attempt to make it more difficult for license plates to be identified," Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent Brett McKean said in his criminal complaint. "Also based on my training and experience, I know that license plate covers can prevent the Flock camera system from reading a license plate. It is also a violation of Florida State statute to have a license plate cover."

On May 22, 2025, police conducted a traffic stop on Farley while he was driving his gray Hyundai and took him into custody for state violations of commercial burglary and grand theft. Authorities executed federal search warrants for his property and found the replica firearm, black and white Nike sneakers, and lottery ticket books that confirmed his involvement in the robbery.

During an interview with investigators, Farley confessed to the crime, explaining that he "needed money."

Farley's criminal history stretches back to 2003, with various past felony convictions for sale of cocaine, possession of a controlled substance, felon in possession of a firearm twice, and possession of oxycodone.

He faces at least one count of interference with commerce by threat or violence, a federal charge under the Hobbs Act. He was indicted by a Tampa grand jury while in custody and was charged federally earlier this month, court records say.

DOCUMENT: Read the criminal complaint (many photos included)