February 8, 2024

Clearwater Man Arrested, Accused Of Buying $31K Worth Of Lottery Tickets On Company Credit Card

Warren Alexander Johnson was arrested after spending $31,693.08 on lottery tickets and charging them to the company credit card

A Florida man was arrested earlier this week after he admitted to purchasing over $30,000 in lottery tickets on a company credit card.

According to Fox 13 Tampa Bay, Warren Alexander Johnson was arrested on Feb. 5, after the owner of the company he works for discovered the charges to the credit card last year on Sept. 23. The 47-year-old Clearwater man was a truck driver for All Phase Paving.

The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office revealed that Johnson was charged with a scheme to defraud ($20,000-$50,000). An official affidavit states that the owner of the company saw that, after reviewing credit card statements, the Chase credit card assigned to Johnson had accumulated charges at several convenience stores for a total of $31,693.08.

The company’s owner told police officers that Johnson was only supposed to use the credit card for work-related charges like buying materials, getting fuel for the truck, etc. Johnson was one of three people who worked at All Phase Paving and was assigned a credit card. When he viewed the charges, he checked the tracking information for the company vehicle that was driven by Johnson, who was the only one who had access to the vehicle.

The tracking revealed that the charges matched up with the places Johnson went to, and the owner told police officers that when he approached Johnson about the charges, he confessed to using the credit card to make the lottery ticket purchases.

Although there were no surveillance videos to track his movements, a store manager at one of the places he frequented also told authorities that Johnson stopped by and always purchased lottery scratch-offs with a credit card.

The Sun-Herald also reported that the owner stated that the bank has not reimbursed him for the charges made by Johnson and that the company is still “at a financial loss,” according to the affidavit.