VISALIA – A man who allegedly stole hundreds of lottery tickets from at least two convenience stores has been apprehended.
The first incident happened at the Valero gas station on Houston Avenue near Ben Maddox Way in Visalia. The suspect entered the store, asked for 70 lottery tickets, and then ran away with them without paying. The suspect left the scene in a Dodge Charger, police said.
Later that day, police received a call from the Kwik Stop market on South Mooney Boulevard for a report of a robbery. The clerk told officers that a man pulled out what appeared to be a handgun and demanded lottery tickets. He then left the scene in a Dodge Charger, according to authorities.
Soon afterward, patrol officers saw a Dodge Charger matching the description of the suspect’s vehicle and pulled it over. Officers detained the driver, 26-year-old Gurpreet Brar of Visalia. A search of the vehicle revealed a pellet gun designed to look like a handgun.
Police say that Brar was stealing lottery tickets and cashing them at other stores in the area. The District Attorney’s Office will likely file robbery and burglary charges against Brar, police said.
Brar might also be connected to the theft of $1,400 in lottery tickets from a market near Farmersville that occurred on Saturday. The suspect in that case was also driving a Dodge Charger. Police are also looking into a robbery at a Tulare store last Thursday in which a man stole $300 worth of lottery tickets.
Read More:
ABC30; Caught on camera: Visalia lottery thefts
Visalia Times Delta: Lottery thief arrested
