HIALEAH, FLORIDA: A Hialeah gas station clerk was caught stealing more than $50,000 in lottery tickets. He was later booked into jail on his birthday, according to police. According to an arrest report, Cosme D Calderon worked at the Shell gas station at 2230 W. 68th St. and was caught on surveillance footage stealing a bag of lottery ticket books from the convenience store's storage room, as reported by WFLA.
According to police, Calderon was caught on camera 18 times scanning tickets at the register while another employee used the restroom over a two-month period. Calderon was never supposed to have access to lottery tickets, according to the gas station owner, and was only supposed to "clean the business and work the register as needed."
According to police, the thefts totaled $53,700
According to police, the thefts totaled $53,700. The report does not say whether any of the tickets were big winners or whether he cashed any of them. Calderon, a Hialeah resident, was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on Tuesday, his 44th birthday. On 18 counts of grand theft, he was granted a $90,000 bond.
The Salvadoran national remained in TGK on an immigration hold on Wednesday, August 2, according to jail records. Hialeah Police spokesperson Scarlett Hernandez said, "He was supposed to just be cleaning there, but when his coworkers were going to the restroom, he would go to the storage closet, grab the little booklets, go to the cash register, activate them and then later on go to different locations and get the prizes from them."
Florida man detained after he made fictitious bomb threats
Earlier, a Florida man, age 21, was detained when family members attempted to evict him from their home in Fort Walton Beach after he made fictitious bomb threats. Lance Heines was apprehended on Thursday, August 3, when deputies were called to a residence off Tyner Street, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office. The residents and Heines, who was being evicted, reportedly got into a fight, according to the authorities, who received a report of it just before 12 o'clock. He "made statements indicating he had an explosive device and told family members to get the bomb squad," according to the officials, as they were attempting to remove Heines from the garage. Heines eventually agreed to open the garage after being on the phone with deputies for about 30 minutes. Then Heines was taken into custody without incident, as reported by MEAWW.
