Ohio Sheetz Employee Charged After Printing $17,000 in Unauthorized Keno Tickets

A Sheetz worker in Solon, Ohio, faces a fourth-degree felony theft charge after allegedly printing $17,000 in unpaid Keno lottery tickets over two months and using the proceeds to pay bills.

Joshua Melvin Hartley, 32, of Cleveland, was arrested on Nov. 5 at the Cochran Road location. He exploited a lottery terminal function that Sheetz staff did not regularly use. It is unclear how he learned the method or if security features were bypassed.

Solon police spokesman Lt. Bill Vajdich told Cleveland's FOX 8, "Either he worked somewhere different and learned, or he was just savvy enough to figure it out on his own."

Audit Trail

The activity was detected when a Sheetz loss prevention supervisor noticed unusual losses in Keno transactions. Working with the Ohio Lottery Commission, the company audited its system and identified approximately $17,000 in suspicious ticket activity. Some individual wagers stood out.

Vajdich said, "Some of them were pretty big, like somebody is really paying $500 for one Keno game!" Store managers compiled a list of dates and times the tickets were printed. Hartley was working during all of them.

Caught on Camera

Surveillance footage captured Hartley using the lottery kiosk to print dozens of Keno tickets without paying. When questioned by police, he admitted accessing the machine multiple times. Authorities seized nearly $2,000 from him during the arrest and will seek court-ordered forfeiture to return the funds to Sheetz.

The $17,000 figure reflects the value of the printed tickets, not winnings collected. Vajdich noted that lottery transactions are audited, making repeated offenses difficult to sustain. Hartley was taken to Solon Jail.