Woman Charged with Stealing $100,000 in Lottery Tickets from Pizza Shop

SOUTH GREENSBURG, Pa. — Kimberly Morris, a former employee of Falbo's Pizzeria, has been charged with theft and receiving stolen property after allegedly stealing $100,000 worth of lottery tickets from the establishment. Westmoreland County detectives reported that Morris pocketed tickets from the lottery machine while overseeing it from 2018 to 2020, during which she worked unsupervised shifts. The investigation began when the pizza shop's owner noticed discrepancies in the lottery machine's operations in 2019. According to authorities, the owner discovered that the machine was consistently short on instant game tickets, with losses ranging from several hundred to several thousand dollars weekly. This prompted a deeper review of the shop's lottery account. Detectives found that the owner had to deposit over $102,000 of personal funds into the account to cover the losses attributed to the missing tickets. Morris, when questioned, claimed that her role as the machine's administrator allowed her to play instant games without paying for the tickets, suggesting a misuse of her position. Morris has since been arraigned and released on her own recognizance. The case highlights the vulnerabilities in oversight at small businesses, particularly regarding lottery operations, and raises questions about employee trust and accountability in such settings.