Robbery Gone Wrong: Man Steals Lottery Tickets, Cash in Colorado

Police in Colorado Springs have arrested a man in connection with a February robbery that didn’t quite end like hitting the jackpot. 

Charges of Aggravated Robbery

R.I. was taken into custody on Wednesday morning after officers obtained an arrest warrant on Tuesday, along with a search warrant for his home.

The incident happened on February 12, when a man dressed in black and wearing a mask walked into a store near Circle and Constitution Avenue. He waved a gun at the clerk and made off with an undisclosed amount of cash, a stash of lottery scratch tickets, and the business’s landline phone. 

Not exactly the kind of lottery win most people dream about.

Investigators said a search of I.’s residence turned up objects and evidence linking him to the robbery. Police charged him with aggravated robbery, and he was booked into the El Paso County Jail. 

According to online records, he remained in custody Thursday morning with a bond set at $250,000.

While lottery tickets can be a ticket to sudden fortune, the 26-year-old man’s attempt at a quick payday ended up with him on the wrong side of the law, proof that trying to hit the jackpot by force rarely pays off.

Two Casino Robbery Attempts By the Same Man

Last August, another man in Colorado Springs, who was also coincidentally 26 years old at the time, allegedly jumped the cash cage at Cripple Creek’s J.P. McGills Casino for a second time after a first failed attempt the previous month.

The second time around, in August 2025, A.J.I. managed to allegedly help himself to over 

$76,000 from the casino’s cage, but didn’t make it far with his loot as he was caught and immediately taken into custody by Colorado Springs Police officers with help from the Colorado Division of Gaming.
He was held at the Teller County Jail on a $50,000 bond, facing charges of second-degree burglary, attempted theft, and third-degree burglary.