A Florida man was arrested and charged with swindling between $20,000 and $50,000 after he used a company credit card to buy lottery tickets worth $30,000, the Pinellas County Court reported.
Warren Alexander Johnson, 47, of Clearwater (about 25 miles west of Tampa), who was driving a paving truck for
All Phase Paving
, was arrested on February 5 and taken into custody of the Sheriff's Office. of Pinellas County.
No bail has been set for him.
Johnson's apparent crime came to light in September 2023, after the firm's owner noticed unusual charges on a company credit card and initially suspected they were fraudulent purchases.
Lottery tickets on sale in Miami Beach, Florida.Getty Images
The card, the owner explained in a sworn statement, had been given to three people, each of whom had one with different account numbers.
According to the owner, the cards could only be used
to purchase gasoline and other work materials
.
During a verification of the vehicle's routes, it was determined that its driver, Johnson, made frequent stops at convenience stores, where he supposedly purchased the so-called lottery "scratch-offs."
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In total, the charges were $31,693.08, said the owner, who added that, when he questioned Johnson, he admitted that he used the company's card to spend “a few thousand dollars” on lottery tickets.
Johnson was also identified by an administrator of one of the establishments, who stated that the man entered the establishment regularly to buy the “scratch-offs.”
The owner of the company stated in his sworn statement that the bank has not returned the money and
that he still has financial losses
.
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Florida law allows the use of credit cards to purchase lottery tickets as long as they cost less than $20.
With information from
USA Today
and
The Miami Herald