Flagler County detectives say surveillance video and Florida Lottery records linked the assistant manager to tickets that were scanned and redeemed after another employee resigned.
BUNNELL, Fla. — A Palm Coast woman has been arrested on a grand theft charge after Flagler County investigators say she scanned and redeemed thousands of dollars in lottery tickets that had been left behind the counter at a Circle K.
Leandra Tarpley, 31, was arrested Sept. 15 following an investigation into more than $6,500 worth of Florida Lottery tickets, according to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.
The investigation began Aug. 26 when deputies responded to a delayed theft report at a Circle K in Palm Coast.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, an employee had printed 10 lottery tickets valued at $660 each on Aug. 9 and resigned from the store the following day. Store management initially suspected the former employee of taking the tickets.
Detectives with the Sheriff’s Office General Assignment Unit later reviewed surveillance video and interviewed employees and managers.
Investigation shifts to assistant manager
Investigators said they learned that the employee who printed the tickets had done so accidentally and, after consulting another employee, placed them in a manager’s book behind the store counter.
The former employee denied taking the tickets and told detectives that his resignation was unrelated to the incident.
Investigators then reviewed Florida Lottery transaction records, which they said showed that the tickets began being scanned and winnings processed at the same Circle K on Aug. 11 — one day after the employee resigned.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, surveillance footage showed Tarpley, who worked as an assistant manager at the store, scanning the tickets and processing winning tickets.
Detectives allege Tarpley used some of the winnings to purchase additional scratch-off tickets and took remaining cash from the payouts.
Detectives cite lottery records and surveillance video
When questioned by detectives, Tarpley acknowledged scanning tickets that she said she found behind the counter, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Investigators said she denied knowing they were the same tickets previously printed by the employee.
Authorities also said Tarpley told detectives she had not received cash from the winnings and had received only additional tickets.
The Sheriff’s Office said investigators reached a different conclusion after comparing surveillance footage with Florida Lottery records.
Tarpley was arrested at the Circle K on Sept. 15 and booked into the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility on a grand theft charge. She was later released on $2,500 bond, according to the agency.
Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly praised detectives for reviewing the store footage and lottery records, saying in the agency’s release that investigators conducted a “thorough review.”
Staly also invoked his agency’s nickname for the county jail, saying Tarpley’s alleged actions resulted in “a trip to the Green Roof Inn.”
An arrest is not a conviction. Tarpley is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office currently identifies Rick Staly as the county sheriff.
