Lottery ticket theft suspect arrested in Ceres

By ROSALIO AHUMADA
rahumada@modbee.com

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CERES -- Authorities on Thursday arrested a 37-year-old man suspected of stealing thousands of dollars worth of California Lottery Scratchers tickets from stores from Madera to Modesto.

A task force of state and local detectives found and arrested Matthew Roberts of Ceres at a house in the 2500 block of Fifth Street in Ceres, said Sgt. Craig Gundlach, a Modesto police spokesman.

He said Roberts was booked at the Stanislaus County Jail on suspicion of three counts of burglary, along with a vehicle theft arrest warrant out of Tuolumne County.

Matthew Roberts LOTTERY THEFT SUSPECT ARRESTED

Gundlach said detectives expect additional charges to be filed against Roberts and additional arrests to be made in the coming weeks.

The majority of the ticket thefts occurred during overnight break-ins, where the targets were Scratchers tickets, Gundlach said.

"They weren't going in and stealing everything," he said. "They would go straight for the Lottery tickets. It was lucrative for a while."

Roberts was a key suspect in more than 30 thefts from late November to June, Gundlach said.

The Lottery tickets were stolen from stores in Modesto, Turlock, Ceres, Delhi, Waterford and Madera. Gundlach said the value of the stolen tickets is based on their price, not the value of the winnings.

The Scratchers tickets are priced at $1, $2, $3 and $5, according to the California Lottery Web site.

Gundlach said investigators with the California Lottery's Law Enforcement Division saw a pattern in the thefts and formed a task force with local law enforcement agencies in early December.

Detectives from Modesto, Turlock and Ceres police, deputies from the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department, along with state parole agents and officials from the Stanislaus County Probation Department worked together on the cases.

Over several months, the task force conducted surveillance, searches and interviews and reviewed investigative reports, Gundlach said.

The Scratchers tickets have serial numbers that are placed in a state database that marks them after they are stolen, Gundlach said. When someone tries to collect winnings from the stolen ticket, the computer database alerts state Lottery officials.

Gundlach said that's what happened in May when someone tried to collect winnings from stolen Lottery tickets at a Save Mart in Ceres.

Lottery investigators contacted the Save Mart and the store employees gave the investigators the license plate number of the suspect's vehicle, he said.

After further investigation, the task force detectives identified Roberts as the main suspect in the thefts, Gundlach said.

Task force detectives first looked for Roberts on Thursday at a home in the 2000 block of Venus Street in Ceres. Gundlach said Roberts' ex-wife and four children were at the house, where the detectives found several stolen Lottery tickets.

He said Roberts' ex-wife was not arrested and that she has not been implicated in the Lottery ticket thefts.

The detectives learned later that Roberts was at the Fifth Street house and found him hiding behind a chair. He was taken into custody without further incident, Gundlach said.

He said four other people at the house were arrested on a variety of charges, including parole and drug violations.

According to the California Lottery Web site, ticket sales were $1.8 billion in its first year, growing to a peak of $2.6 billion in 1989. Sales declined until 1992 and have increased since. Lottery sales in fiscal year 2005-2006 were more than $3.5 billion.

There are six types of Lottery games. The majority of the sales come from the two most popular games -- SuperLotto and Scratchers.

The California State Lottery Act of November 1984 provides that a minimum of 50 percent of the revenues be returned to the public in the form of Lottery prizes. At least 34 percent goes to public education and no more than 16 percent for Lottery administrative expenses, according to the Lottery Web site.

"The Lottery will not tolerate those who deceive our players and attack the integrity of Lottery games," California Lottery Director Joan Borucki said in a news release. "This task force, comprised of Lottery law enforcement and local public safety, should be commended for their efforts to stop these criminals."

Bee staff writer Rosalio Ahumada can be reached at rahumada@modbee.com or 578-2394.