Florence Man Charged in Lottery Ticket Theft

Stealing lottery tickets might sound like an easy score. This South Carolina lottery ticket theft case shows why it usually isn’t.

Antonio Levon Ricardo Stewart, 36, now faces three felony charges. Investigators say he swiped an unactivated ticket pack while sitting for a hiring interview. He then spent the rest of that day trying to turn them into cash.

SLED, South Carolina’s state law enforcement agency, announced the charges in late August 2026. The Murphy USA where Stewart interviewed sits along Irby Street, in the South Carolina city of Florence.

How the Alleged Lottery Ticket Theft Happened

Stewart allegedly took the tickets on May 6, 2025, while he sat for that hiring interview at the store. A surveillance camera reportedly caught him doing it. Later that day, he tried turning those tickets into cash at three stores along Irby Street. He had six tickets in total, and clerks turned away five of them.

A cashier at the Carolina C Store rejected two tickets right away. Three more didn’t scan at a nearby Refuel. The register there flagged them as coming from a pack the retailer had never activated. Only one ticket worked. A Friendly Neighbor gas station clerk handed over $5 in cash for it.

Why Lottery Ticket Theft Rarely Pays Off

State lotteries build several layers of security around scratch-off tickets. Retailers scan every pack when it arrives, then scan again to activate it before selling any tickets. More than 4,000 stores across South Carolina sell lottery tickets, and most of them run video cameras. That combination makes ticket theft a lot harder to get away with.

Retailers can flag missing or stolen tickets any time through a dedicated lottery hotline. In Stewart’s case, though, it was a point-of-sale scan that caught the unactivated pack when he tried to cash in. Players who win the legitimate way follow a far simpler path. A winner can claim lottery winnings through an authorized retailer or the state lottery office. No stolen tickets are involved.

Charges and Potential Penalties

This lottery ticket theft case now carries real legal weight for Stewart. Florence County jailed him on three charges tied to defrauding the lottery.

A conviction carries a lasting consequence beyond prison time or fines. South Carolina law would permanently bar Stewart from collecting a lottery prize. He could also never work for the lottery commission.

What Happens Next

SLED sought Stewart’s arrest warrant soon after the May 2025 incident. He was not taken into custody until August 25, 2026, upwards of a year later. Prosecutors with South Carolina’s 12th Circuit Solicitor’s Office now have the case. No trial date has been made public yet.

This lottery ticket theft case is a reminder that scratch-off security measures work. Retailers, cashiers, and claims windows all play a role in catching fraud before it pays off.