A Kangaroo gas station clerk ran out of luck Monday when he was arrested for stealing about $1,364 worth of winnings from lottery tickets, Alachua Police said.
Joshua Timothy Taylor
During his shift Friday, Joshua Timothy Taylor, 39, scratched off barcodes of 40 lottery tickets, which ranged in value from $20 to $25, at 16070 NW Highway 441, according to an arrest report. The store’s district manager, Jim Wring, told police Taylor cashed out the winning tickets and pocketed $1,364 in cash.
Taylor left his shift with the cash and a book of lottery tickets worth $1,000, according to the re- port. He took the tickets to High Springs to cash them.
After his arrest, Taylor told police he took the lottery tickets because he was soon to be a homeless single parent of two children. APD was unable to recover the cash, according to the report.
Police arrested Taylor on a charge of grand theft. Authorities took him to the Alachua County Jail, where he was released Tuesday afternoon on his own recognizance.
Taylor could not be reached for comment. Wring declined to comment.
Contact Meryl Kornfield at mkornfield@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @MerylKornfield
