20-year-old convenience store employee arrested for alleged lottery fraud

Just a few days before a local Circle K employee was charged for allegedly stealing from a customer, a 20-year-old from Douglas was charged for similar offenses that allegedly occurred at the same business last June. Sherilyn Nicholls was an employee at the time when she reportedly stole over $550 from the convenience store and committed Georgia Lottery fraud.

Last week, DouglasNow submitted a request for the incident report of Nicholls' arrest. However, a report was not available.

The offenses are listed in the warrants for Nicholls' arrest, which showed charges of Georgia Lottery for Education Fraud and one count of theft by taking (misdemeanor). 

According to a copy of the first warrant, on June 21, 2022, Nicholls allegedly violated O.C.G.A. 50-27-27 by "willingly and knowingly, with intent to defraud, a State of Georgia lottery ticket, to wit: $103 worth of Georgia lottery tickets." 

O.C.G.A. 50-27-27 states, "Any person who, with intent to defraud, falsely makes, alters, forges, utters, passes, or counterfeits a state lottery ticket shall be punished by a fine not to exceed $50,000.00 or imprisonment for not longer than five years, or both. "Any person who influences or attempts to influence the winning of a prize through the use of coercion, fraud, deception, or tampering with lottery equipment or materials shall be punished by a fine not to exceed $50,000.00 or by imprisonment for not longer than five years, or both." 

Nicholls is also accused of "unlawfully taking and carrying away certain property, to wit: cash currency valued at $567.56, belonging to Circle K, with the intention of depriving said owner of said property." 

The warrant states that the act occurred between June 1, 2022, and June 30, 2022. Both of the alleged crimes are reported to have occurred at the Circle K located at 1716 North Peterson Avenue. While the offenses are said to have occurred last fall, warrants for Nicholls' arrest were taken out in December 2022, with Nicholls being arrested on January 3, 2023. 

According to a copy of Tuesday morning's jail roster, Nicholls has been released on bond.