WINCHENDON — A man suspected of stealing hundreds of lottery tickets from a local gas station was arrested Wednesday after a citizen’s tip and surveillance footage led police to him.
Winchendon Police responded to a burglar alarm at the Irving Gas Station on Gardner Rd. at 2:11 a.m. Sunday, May 12, where they found evidence of a break-in.
The thief had entered through a back balcony door and stolen lottery tickets and a display dispenser from behind the counter.
Later that day, an attempt to cash the stolen tickets at the Mike Mart on Spring St. tipped off police.
The Mass State Lottery Commission had already canceled the tickets.
Surveillance video from the store helped officers identify 32-year-old Ricardo Azevedo-Dasilva as the suspect.
Detective Caleb Similia of the Winchendon Police Department obtained an arrest warrant for Azevedo-Dasilva and a search warrant for his residence on Noel Dr. in Ashburnham.
On Wednesday, May 15, at around 11:45 a.m., Winchendon and Ashburnham Police found the remaining stolen tickets and the display dispenser, along with other evidence, at Azevedo-Dasilva’s home.
Although Azevedo-Dasilva was not present during the search, he later surrendered to the Winchendon Police.
He faces charges of breaking and entering in the nighttime for a felony, larceny from a building, and vandalizing property.
