Kennewick man sentenced to prison for stealing lottery tickets

A man with a lengthy history of property crimes was ordered Tuesday to serve five years and eight months in prison for breaking into an Eltopia convenience store and stealing two trays of lottery scratch tickets.

Charles G. Barrett tried to cash in some of the tickets within 12 hours after the burglary at a Kennewick store, but Washington’s Lottery agency already had been notified of the theft.

Barrett, 38, of Kennewick, pleaded guilty in Franklin County Superior Court to one count of second-degree burglary. His sentence was at the top of the range because of his record and the crime.

Barrett and another person stole a pickup from a Richland repair shop and drove to Eltopia, forcing their way into Qwik’s Country Store at 4:15 a.m. Jan. 2, according to court documents. They are seen on security video stealing the trays of tickets.

The owner of the Glade North Road store immediately contacted the state agency about the stolen lottery tickets. Then at 4 p.m. that same day, lottery officials reported to emergency dispatchers they’d been called about someone trying to cash the tickets at Max Mart on West Fourth Avenue.

Kennewick police responded to the convenience store, where a witness saw Barrett get into a Hummer after his failed attempt, documents said.

Franklin County Sheriff’s Detective Jason Nunez watched that store’s security footage and noticed the man’s appearance matched images taken from the Qwik’s burglary, court documents said. Both videos showed a man wearing a brown pair of shoes with white soles.

Investigators tracked down the Hummer’s co-owner, who acknowledged giving his friend, Barrett, a ride to Max Mart to cash in several winning scratch tickets. Barrett then was interviewed and denied having a role in the Eltopia burglary or theft of the pickup from Richland, but said he was the one with the scratch tickets in Kennewick, documents said.

A search of Barrett’s bedroom turned up the brown shoes that matched the suspect in both videos.

Barrett must pay $10,133 in restitution to Qwik’s Country Store.

His criminal history shows 22 felony convictions dating to 1992 when he was a juvenile. The crimes include burglary, possessing and trafficking stolen property, drug possession, theft of ammonia, malicious mischief, forgery and financial fraud.

This story was originally published October 21, 2014 at 6:26 PM.