Klamath Falls, Ore. – The Oregon Lottery played a role in helping to identify a burglary suspect in Klamath Falls.
Josh White of Fast Break Convenience Stores was called out when the Highway 97 Chevron was broken into last week.
“They found that the registers had been destroyed, and the door had been busted open.” Recalls White. “And a bunch of lottery scratch-its had been stolen.”
The Campus Drive McDonalds and two Burger King restaurants had also been burglarized.
Luckily, the numbers on the stolen lottery tickets were accounted for.
“We are pretty good partners with the other people in our business in town.” White noted. “So we reached out to them, and gave them a heads-up – ‘hey, somebody may come in and try to redeem a lot of lottery tickets’.”
The Oregon Avenue ‘Fuel Good’ Food Mart reported a man had just come in to cash in a large number of scratch-offs.
White says police were called in to review surveillance video. “They were able to go to that facility to watch the video, and see who was trying to redeem our stolen tickets.”
51 year old George Earl Shipp was arrested Thursday night for burglaries at KFC and Taco Bell.
He’s now been linked to burglaries at McDonalds, Burger King, Chevron, and Holey Donut.
White is glad that cooperation led to the suspect’s arrest. “We try to act like a team in this community – and this is just another example of that.”
Klamath Falls Police say that at least one other person may have been involved with the burglaries.
People with any information can call 911.
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