US man held for redeeming $300 worth of stolen tickets to head to prison. Here's what happened

A 32-year-old man, who was arrested for trying to redeem some stolen tickets at a convenience store in Wichita falls in 2019, will be heading to prison in the US. He had allegedly stolen the tickets and tried to redeem them at the store.

For different crimes, the accused, Byron Locke, has sentences, which range from 15 months to 8 years. According to the reports, Locke was arrested in 2019 after police began the search for a lottery ticket thief. Locke was held when he was trying to redeem several stolen lottery tickets on Holiday Road.



How did Locke get caught?
After theft was reported, the Texas Lottery Commission informed the police of many locations to investigate if the stolen tickets get scanned or redeemed in any way.

A few hours later, some stolen tickets worth $300 were redeemed at a Dollar store. On getting the information, police checked the surveillance footage at all Quick Stop and Dollar stores. They found that the person in the surveillance video was wearing the same clothes. With the help of the CCTV footage, the police identified the culprit and he was Locke. He already had a criminal record.


Did Locke have a criminal history?
Locke has previously served two years in jail for holding a 23-year-old woman at gunpoint while trying to marry her. The case was registered in 2015 when he assaulted and forced her to marry him.

In May 2022, he was charged with drug possession and violation of gang injection, which is still pending in court.