Cashier charged in lottery ticket scam

KELLOGG - A 27-year-old gas station cashier has been arrested for allegedly partially scratching lottery tickets, scanning them and selling the losers to customers while buying the winners.

Chasidie Ellen Clark of Kellogg was taken into custody by the Shoshone County Sheriff's Office Wednesday at the Wallace Conoco and charged with two counts of passing altered lottery tickets.

"I asked her what her plan was for the losing lottery tickets and she informed me she would place them into the dispensers to be dispersed to the paying customers," according to a sheriff's report.

Ted Beamis, owner of Beamis Oil Company and the Wallace Conoco, called the sheriff's office when he received a phone call from a customer who said he purchased a losing ticket that had already been scratched.

The sheriff's office consulted the Idaho Lottery Enforcement Division, which advised deputies each lottery ticket has a four digit pin number on the area to be scratched along with a bar code on the back.

"The ticket can be scanned and the four digit pin be entered and the lottery machine will tell you if the card is a winner without having to scratch the entire ticket," states the sheriff's report.

ILED officials said the ticket in question had been scanned at 3:31 p.m. - an hour before the customer said he had bought it.

After being arrested, Clark allegedly provided a motive for the crime.

"She informed me after she had been the victim of the robbery a few weeks ago, her power was turned off and she needed money to turn it back on," states the sheriff's report.