A 30-year-old Modesto man was arrested by Ceres Police for breaking into Richland Liquors to steal lottery tickets which he later tried to cash in at another store.

Two persons were seen breaking into the back door of Richland Liquors at 6:55 a.m. on Thursday morning. The culprits left by the time police arrived. The area around the cash register had been ransacked. A security video showed two males inside the store helping themselves to cash and lottery tickets.

Officer Brian Petersen remembered handling a call the day before about a suspicious man at Cost Less Foods cashing in several winning lottery tickets worth $700 which he claimed he bought for $1,000. The store was suspicious and told that the tickets were traced to a burglary of a Modesto store. Officer Petersen then contacted Cost Less and other Ceres businesses to alert them that someone was trying to cash in a large number of lottery tickets.

Later at 9:37 a.m., the manager of Cost Less Foods called police to report that Kevin Garcia, 30, of Modesto, was in the store to cash out over 50 lottery tickets. Garcia was the same man who had cashed in lottery tickets the day before.