Chad Niemi (Photo courtesy: Brown County Jail)
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A convenience store employee was charged after allegedly stealing $10,000 in lottery tickets from the store.
Chad Niemi, 45, was charged with one count of retail theft from the True North Babcock Shell in Ashwaubenon. An initial court appearance was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.
Police reviewed store security footage, which showed Niemi pocketing the money customers are paying for lottery tickets, without scanning them for purchase.
“It was clear that Chad and the customers were working together with these fraudulent transactions. Chad disguised all purchases with the help the individuals and pocketed money without putting them in the till. When an individual scratched off the tickets and identified the winning ones which were turned back into Chad. The winning tickets were kept under the counter. Customers continued to pretend to pay for tickets while eventually leaving the store with unpaid Wisconsin Lottery tickets,” the complaint states.
The complaint cites several examples of how the transactions happened, including this one:
“A separate individual with balding brown hair, gray Cleveland Browns sweatshirt, blue jeans, and brown shoes then comes to the register to pick out scratch offs. Chad removes two, $20 “Multiply Your Riches ” scratch off sheets and three, $30 “Super Millions ” scratch off tickets from the Wisconsin Lottery bin. The male hands over cash to Chad, which he places in his pocket. Chad never scans in the tickets, or the sheets, and the male appears to pay for the tickets again using a financial transaction card through the card reader. The previous individual wearing the black sweatshirt, returns with two scratch-off tickets and gives them to Chad. Chad takes the tickets and puts them underneath the counter. Chad then goes over to the Wisconsin Lottery bin and removes seven, $10 “$50 ‘s and $100 ‘s ” scratch-offs. Chad made no attempt to scan these tickets into the system and gave them to the black sweatshirt individual, who pretended to pay with a red financial transaction card,” the complaint says.
Niemi denied any knowledge of the scheme.
“Chad informed me that he was never notified of the reasons why he was terminated from the Shell Gas Station and he does not know anything about stolen Wisconsin Lottery scratch-offs. Chad then started questioning himself on why he is talking to a “cop” and that he does not talk to “cops.” Chad then requested an attorney before continuing to talk to me. I did not ask any further questions due to his request,” the complaint says.
The thefts happened between Feb. 23 and April 5, the complaint states.
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