{"id":243,"date":"2025-10-13T18:59:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T18:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/243\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T18:59:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T18:59:08","slug":"florida-man-steals-7k-worth-of-scratch-offs-returns-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/243\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Man Steals $7K Worth of Scratch-Offs, Returns to &#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.complex.com\/tag\/florida-man\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Florida man<\/a> is facing federal charges after authorities say he pulled off a bizarre string of crimes involving stolen lottery tickets, convenience store visits, and an attempted armed robbery.<\/p>\n<p>According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/10\/09\/us-news\/florida-man-allegedly-stole-7k-in-scratch-off-lottery-tickets-then-returned-to-store-to-redeem-them\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The New York Post<\/a>, 43-year-old Justin Farley allegedly stole $7,000 worth of scratch-off lottery tickets from a Circle K in St. Petersburg on May 5. <\/p>\n<p>Investigators said Farley pulled into the store in his gray Hyundai Elantra, \u201copened multiple cabinets and took scratch-off lottery tickets\u201d before driving off.<\/p>\n<p>Roughly 40 minutes later, Farley tried to cash in the stolen tickets at a nearby 7-Eleven. That attempt failed. Prosecutors say he then returned to the same Circle K with the stolen tickets, hoping to redeem them there, but was again unsuccessful. When that didn\u2019t work, he returned a third time, only to come up empty again.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities say Farley escalated later that day. Wearing a black mask, a yellow shirt, and black Nike sneakers, he allegedly entered a 7-Eleven armed with a replica Glock. Prosecutors claim he pointed the gun at a clerk and demanded that the register be opened. He reportedly made off with $120 in cash and a pack of Newport cigarettes before fleeing.<\/p>\n<p>Surveillance footage and Farley\u2019s license plate quickly tied him to the crimes. Police pulled him over on May 22 and charged him with commercial burglary and grand theft. In a recorded interview, Farley admitted to both the Circle K theft and the 7-Eleven robbery. He also told police he \u201cneeded money,\u201d according to the affidavit.<\/p>\n<p>Farley was indicted by a Tampa grand jury while in custody on state charges earlier this month. He now faces one count of interference with commerce by threat or violence, a federal charge under the Hobbs Act. The law applies to robberies that impact interstate or foreign commerce.<\/p>\n<p>Court filings note Farley has a prior record, including felony drug and firearm convictions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Florida man is facing federal charges after authorities say he pulled off a bizarre string of crimes&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}