Gunman steals lottery scratchers from Costa Mesa and Santa Ana convenience stores
A man armed with a revolver made off with hundreds of dollars worth of lottery scratchers from convenience stores in Costa Mesa and Santa Ana in a string of robberies Thursday night, police said.
Police said the man hit two stores in Santa Ana — one on West MacArthur Boulevard at 8 p.m. and the other on Fairview Road at 8:45 p.m. — each time fleeing with lottery scratchers.
At about 9:05 p.m., Costa Mesa police responded to the Circle K at 3470 Fairview Road after receiving a report of a robbery. The man took about $600 worth of scratchers from the Costa Mesa store, police said.
About 10 minutes later, Santa Ana police responded to a report of a robbery at a store on South Bristol Street. Police believe the same man was involved.
The total value of the scratchers stolen from the four stores wasn’t clear.
Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said that in each robbery, the man walked up to the counter — sometimes after waiting in line — with a wad of cash in his hand and asked for lottery scratchers. After the cashier scanned the scratchers, activating them, the man lifted his shirt to expose a gun in his waistband, Bertagna said.
Authorities described the man as 25 to 30 years old, 6 feet tall and 200 pounds with a beard.
Anyone with information about the robberies is asked to call the Santa Ana Police Department or Costa Mesa police Det. George Maridakis at (714) 754-5051.
Twitter: @HannahFryTCN
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