Ohio grocery worker pleads guilty in lottery theft

CINCINNATI (AP) — A Kroger supermarket employee in Ohio has been convicted of stealing more than $100,000 worth of scratch-off lottery tickets in the store where she worked.

Court records show 53-year-old Deborah Strong of Cincinnati pleaded guilty Monday to a charge of aggravated theft. She admitted stealing $189,000 worth of tickets.

Strong told Judge Dennis Helmick of Hamilton County Common Pleas Court that she kept leftover tickets when refilling the scratch-off ticket machine.

She could get up to five years in prison at her June 1 sentencing.

Atty. James Bogen said his client wanted to take responsibility for her actions and has done so with her plea.