Patel has been charged with theft over $250,000 by the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office
A 23-year-old Indian-origin man, Meer Patel, has been arrested and charged for allegedly stealing a lottery ticket worth $1 million. The incident took place at a Shell gas station in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where Patel was employed as a clerk.
The victim, a father who wishes to remain anonymous, purchased two lottery tickets on July 13. Patel handed the victim cash for a ticket with a smaller prize and kept the winning ticket, pretending to discard it in the trash.
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Authorities used the surveillance footage to identify the father as the rightful owner of the winning ticket
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The father was unaware of his substantial win until informed by investigators
Patel later retrieved the ticket from the wastebasket and attempted to claim the prize at the Tennessee lottery office. However, his actions aroused suspicion among the staff. Surveillance footage from the store showed Patel taking out the trash, retrieving the ticket, and celebrating after discovering it was a $1 million winner.
“The feel-good side of this story is that the father never knew he was the winner until we made contact with him,” a detective commented. “That is absolutely life-changing money.”
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