Inset: Tameka Hall (Volusia County Sheriff”s Office). Background: News footage of the Walmart in DeLand, Fla. (WKMG).
A Florida woman lost her job at Walmart after police said she kept a winning lottery ticket from an elderly customer.
Tameka Hall, 40, was charged with grand theft after deputies from the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said she intentionally kept a winning lottery ticket from its rightful owner. According to an affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime, the store manager of a Walmart in DeLand, Florida, was contacted by an elderly man who bought a lottery ticket and was trying to claim his $2,700 prize at the store on June 24.
Police said Hall verified the man’s ticket was a winner, but then she pocketed the ticket instead of giving it back.
According to the affidavit, Hall told the man after confirming his $2,700 prize that the amount was too large for the store to provide. He would have to bring the ticket and the receipt to another location, she allegedly told him. Hall handed the man a receipt for the ticket, which included the instructions he needed to claim his cash prize, but police said Hall was caught on store cameras putting the winning ticket in the pocket of her Walmart employee vest.
After the man left the store, Hall told police that she realized she did not return the ticket to the man, but wanted to help another customer who came in after he was gone. She told police that she ended her workday with the ticket still in her pocket.
Police said the man realized later the same day that his winning ticket was not among the paperwork he received and he returned to the Walmart to retrieve his ticket. He made contact with another Walmart employee, who then informed the store manager who reviewed the camera footage of the interaction between Hall and the lottery winner.
According to the affidavit, Hall was seen providing the man instructions and a receipt for the ticket, but was allegedly captured taking the ticket from the machine that printed it after the man left the store. Hall told police that she still had the ticket, which was found in her car in the Walmart parking lot. She denied that she planned to keep the ticket for herself and “deprive [the man] of his winnings.”
The winning lottery ticket was held as evidence. Law&Crime reached out to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office for an update on the status of the lottery winner’s ticket and whether he has been able to collect his prize. The sheriff’s office did not provide an immediate response.
Local CBS affiliate received a confirmation from Walmart that Hall was no longer employed at the company. She was charged with grand theft between $750 and $5,000 and booked into the Volusia County Jail on June 15. She posted bond the same day and was released. Her next court date is scheduled for July 9.
