Lotto Burglary Ring Targets Stores 'Up And Down The Peninsula'

SAN MATEO COUNTY, CA — Police on Friday announced the arrest of three people who have allegedly been breaking into convenience stores "up and down the Peninsula" to steal thousands of lottery tickets and cash them out in nearby San Jose and San Francisco.

"The suspects would burglarize closed businesses in the early morning hours and steal large quantities of lottery scratcher tickets," Belmont Police Capt. Patrick Halleran said in a news release regarding the case. "They would then drive to gas stations [and] convenience stores...where they would cash any winning tickets."

Halleran said Belmont police worked with law enforcement officers from Burlingame, Menlo Park, Los Gatos-Monte Sereno, San Jose and Santa Clara County to make the arrests of 22-year-old Shawn Ray, 21-year-old Michael Walker and 22-year-old Alexander Castillo. All are residents of San Jose.

A fourth suspect in the alleged burglary ring was identified as 21-year-old Jose Sotomayor, also of San Jose, and is still sought in connection to the thefts, according to Halleran.

"Additional suspects, whose names are not being release at this time, are also being actively sought," Halleran said.

The alleged burglary crew is accused of committing more than 15 thefts. In Belmont alone, the crime ring allegedly hit up three stores — on July 14, July 23 and Aug. 11. Halleran tells Patch that in one of the incidents alone, 700 tickets were taken.

It wasn't immediately known how much money the group was able to cash out from any winning tickets.

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IMAGES: Photos clockwise from top left: Shawn Ray, Alexander Castillo, Michael Walker and Jose Sotomayor. COURTESY: Belmont Police Department