Florida truck driver racks up over $31K in charges on company card to purchase scratch-off lottery tickets

A Clearwater, Florida man was arrested on Monday after he was caught using a company credit card to purchase over $31,000 worth of scratch-off lottery tickets, according to law enforcement officials.

Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office records show Warren Alexander Johnson, 47, has been charged with conducting a scheme to defraud between $20,000 and $50,000.

FOX 13 in Tampa reported that officials said Johnson is a truck driver for All Phase Paving, and an affidavit found the owner of the company discovered one of the company’s credit cards had several thousand dollars worth of fraudulent charges on it back in September 2023.

The owner of the company told police only three people, Johnson included, had credit cards connected to the All Phase Paving bank account.

He added that the cards were intended to only be used for work-related charges.

Each card had a different number, so the charges could be traced back to the employee who possessed the particular card.

The owner went through the credit card statements and noticed Johnson’s card was used to charge $31,693 between several convenience stores, the sheriff’s office said.

The owner also reviewed the tracking information for the company vehicle Johnson drove and determined it correlated with the credit card charges.

Deputies said when the owner confronted Johnson about the credit card charges, he admitted to using the card to purchase lottery tickets.

The stores did not have surveillance video to share, but according to authorities, a manager at one of the locations confirmed Johnson frequently drove the work truck to the store.

The manager told investigators Johnson used a credit card to purchase scratch-off tickets.