Four Years For Thief Who Tried To Redeem Stolen Lotto Tickets

By Mike Perleberg Tyler Woolpert. Photo by Dearborn County Sheriff's Department. (Lawrenceburg, Ind.) - A four-year prison sentence has been ordered for a burglar who was caught when he tried to cash in stolen lottery tickets. Tyler Woolpert, 24, pleaded guilty November 5 to one count of Burglary in Dearborn Superior Court II as part of a deal in which charges of Theft (class A misdemeanor) and Criminal Mischief (class B misdemeanor) were dismissed. Judge Sally McLaughlin sentenced him to four years in jail with no time suspended to probation. The Indiana Department of Corrections says his earliest possible release date is November 4, 2018. The judge allowed for Woolpert to be eligible for purposeful incarceration during his stay in prison. Woolpert and his co-defendant, Ryen Etter, had driven to an alley near the former FastTrack BP gas station on Arch Street in Lawrenceburg early in the morning on December 12, 2014. Investigators said that Woolpert was wearing a ski mask when he smashed the store’s glass door with a stone, went inside, and stole lottery tickets and cigarettes. Etter had stayed in the car. The facts of the case show Woolpert and Etter were caught when they made yet another ill-advised decision. The two tried to redeem some scratch-off lottery tickets that had been stolen in the BP burglary at a store in Greendale later that same morning. The tickets had been flagged as stolen before the duo tried to cash them in. In addition to his time behind bars, Woolpert must jointly with Etter pay $532 in restitution to the victimized service station. The payment is due within 90 days of his release. Etter pleaded guilty to a Burglary (level 5 felony) charge last February and also received a four year prison sentence. Woolpert is also violated his probation from a 2013 conviction for Neglect of a Dependent Resulting in Bodily Injury (class C felony). He was sentenced to eight years, but four years of the sentence had been suspended to probation. RELATED STORIES: One Of Two Lotto Ticket Thieves Pleads Guilty, Sentenced Partners In Crime Caught Trying To Redeem Stolen Lottery Tickets