Beatrice Police arrest former convenience employee in lottery ticket theft probe

BEATRICE – Beatrice Police have arrested a suspect in the theft of Nebraska scratch-off lottery tickets.  Authorities responded to a report from a district manager of Cenex, suspecting an employee of taking tickets while on the job, without paying for them.

Beatrice Police reviewed store surveillance video as part of the investigation. A district manager for Cenex contacted an investigator with the Nebraska Gaming Commission, to determine if any scratch tickets were missing and whether they had been cashed at another location.

Police spoke with a Cenex Store Manager on July 17th and checked in-store video which indicated a person suspected of taking at least some of the tickets. Police also met with the Gaming Commission investigator to review store videos from Cenex, Beatrice Casey’s General Stores and a Lincoln Fastmart.

The Cenex video allegedly showed a woman identified as 38-year-old Anna Maholick taking some scratch tickets from a bin, and later leaving the store without paying for them. Other videos, authorities say, showed Maholick and her husband at locations, cashing in winning scratch-off tickets.

The Gaming Commission investigator said serial and lot numbers of missing tickets were tracked….and it was discovered that some of the tickets had been stolen and cashed in. The investigator accounted for $504 in stolen scratch-off lottery tickets.

On July 30th, Beatrice Police located Maholick near 13th and Court in Beatrice…arresting her on suspicion of theft over $500.