Store Clerk Charged After Alleged $1M Lottery Ticket Theft

A Tennessee gas station store clerk is behind bars after an alleged million-dollar lottery ticket theft.

According to the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office, 23-year-old Meer Patel of Murfreesboro was arrested and charged with theft of over $250,000 after he allegedly stole a winning lottery ticket and tried to cash out the $1 million prize.

It all started when a man bought two lottery tickets at a Shell gas station on July 13. They were both winning tickets, with one being for $40 and the other for a whopping $1 million. Per NBC News , the customer handed both tickets to Patel and was paid just $40; the clerk allegedly threw the million-dollar winner in the trash.

Surveillance footage from the store obtained by the Tennessee Lottery showed Patel allegedly digging through the trash and taking out the ticket and putting it in his pocket after the man left.

"He threw it on top of the trash as the gentleman left he took the trash out on camera you can see him grab the ticket and put it in his pocket," detective Steve Craig told WTVF . Detective Dennis Ward added that Patel was "seen later in the video celebrating in the store after scratching off the front of the ticket and learning it was a $1 million winner."

When Patel tried to cash out the million-dollar prize for himself, Tennessee Lottery employees became suspicious after he told them he found the ticket in the trash. "He went to the lottery commission to claim the ticket as his own, but there were red flags and they held onto the ticket," Craig explained.

Throughout all of this, the real winner didn't know he'd won that money until police made their arrest.

"The feel-good side of this story is the [man] never knew he was the winner until we made contact with him," Craig said. "That is absolutely life-changing money."

"He was very thankful," he added.

Patel is being held on $100,000 bond and is set to appear in court on July 30. If you're thinking about doing something similar, think about all the possible ways you could get caught.