Montgomery County police seeking to ID suspects who cashed in stolen lottery scratch-off tickets

ROCKVILLE, Md. - Police are looking for four suspects who have been cashing in stolen lottery tickets at several stores throughout Montgomery County, according to officials.

Investigators said the lottery tickets were stolen from Mike and Sons Sub Shop on Randolph Road in Rockville back on June 29.

On Tuesday, police released surveillance pictures of the suspects seen redeeming the stolen lottery tickets.

It is not clear if the suspects captured in these photos are same ones who broke into the longtime Rockville sandwich shop earlier this summer. However, the suspect in this break-in slid through a small vent in the roof to get inside the business.

"They had to have a ladder," said owner Mak Khalid. "There were screws they had to unscrew. It's a big fan. It's heavy. It's not a one-person job. And it's about one-and-a-half square feet. It's not very big so a person like me, I would barely fit. You would get all greasy and stuff coming down. You would not want to deal with that stuff. The easier way would have been the front door. That's extra work they had to go through."

An employee discovered greasy footprints and the kitchen exhaust fan vent lying on the floor on the morning of the burglary. The owner told FOX 5 thieves made off with thousands of dollars' worth of lottery tickets, cash and beer.

"I guess they had to sit down for a couple of days, drink the beer and scratch the lottery," said Khalid. "It probably took them awhile to scratch all those tickets."

Police said it was actually that very same day a black male and two white females were captured on surveillance cameras cashing in several of those stolen lottery tickets at two different 7-Eleven stores in Silver Spring, a beer and wine store in Wheaton and an Exxon gas station in Wheaton.

More stolen lottery tickets were cashed in days later at various stores in Montgomery County.

Most recently on Aug. 10, another Hispanic female was seen trying to claim some of those stolen lottery tickets at 7-Eleven store in Adelphi. However, in that case, the store declined those tickets.

At Mike and Sons Sub Shop, the burglary from earlier this year has put the business behind.

"We had to reorder the lottery tickets, the beer, we had to get the hood fixed, we had to pay the lottery people," Khalid said.

If you have any information about the suspects or the burglary, you are asked to call Montgomery County police at 240-773-6710. Tips can also be left with Crime Solvers of Montgomery County at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477). Crime Solvers is offering a cash reward of up to $10,000 for information that leads to an arrest and/or indictment of the suspects.