Two held in lottery ticket thefts

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Christopher Culbert (ITX EMM ())

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CRYSTAL LAKE – Two homeless people face retail theft charges for allegedly stealing 112 lottery tickets worth more than $1,000 from a 7-11 store in a three-day spree.

Ashley M. Coquillard, 21, was charged with two counts of retail theft, and Christopher S. Culbert, 23, was charged with three counts of retail theft. Class 3 felonies typically carry two to five years in prison.

The pair, who had been staying at a local motel, are accused of swiping $450 worth of lottery scratch-off tickets Sunday from the 7-11 at 60 W. Terra Cotta Ave. in Crystal Lake. Police think the tickets were taken from behind the counter while the clerk was not looking. Similar thefts happened Monday and Tuesday, Crystal Lake Deputy Chief Dennis Harris said. On one occasion, the pair asked to pay for the tickets but ran off without paying, he said.

It is not clear whether they received any payouts. Lottery tickets are serialized, and once they are reported stolen, they are flagged and cannot be redeemed, Harris said.

Crystal Lake police recognized the suspects from video surveillance in the store. Coquillard was being held at McHenry County Jail on $40,000 bond Thursday. Culbert was being held on $60,000 bond, a jail official said.

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