Scratch tickets snitched; 3 arrested

Three Redmond residents have been arrested in connection with the theft of lottery tickets from several stores in King and Snohomish counties.

The suspects, two men and a woman, all 22, were arrested Wednesday by officers from several police agencies who'd had the suspects' residence under surveillance.

The matter came to the attention of police Feb. 7 when a Kirkland officer responded to a report of the theft of lottery scratch tickets from a service station in the 3800 block of Lake Washington Boulevard Northeast.

Investigators discovered that $20 lottery tickets had been taken and later, those worth $20 were cashed at another business. Checks with other law-enforcement agencies turned up similar thefts in Sammamish, Kirkland, Bothell and in Snohomish County.

Using surveillance film collected at the Kirkland service station, and other methods, police were able to identify the suspects and track them to Redmond. Kirkland and Bothell police and the King County Sheriff's Office detectives took part in a surveillance of their home.

While police were watching the residence, a vehicle used by the suspects was stopped by Redmond Police, and the three suspects were arrested.

A search of the vehicle found a large number of $20 lottery scratch tickets that had been stolen from a Mukilteo store, according to Kirkland Police Detective Don Carroll.

Peyton Whitely: 206-464-2259 or pwhitely@seattletimes.com.