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Burglars Use Rope, Van To Rip Doors Off Garden Grove Store To Steal Lottery Tickets

GARDEN GROVE (CBSLA.com) — A rope and a van were used early Tuesday morning to rip the doors off a Garden Grove convenience store, which was then ransacked for its lottery tickets – the second such burglary in the city in a week.

This morning's burglary at the Shop & Go, 13682 Euclid St., was reported at 2:51 a.m., Garden Grove police Sgt. K. Ferrin said. Officers responding to the scene found the front doors ripped off, he said.

None of the goods appeared to have been taken, but it appeared the burglars stole lottery tickets. The shop owner will be asked to confirm that, Ferrin said. The burglars also tried to pull away with the rope attached to the ATM, but the rope broke, and the van fled without the ATM in an unkown direction.

No one was injured in the burglary.

The two men who burglarized the store were driving a white Chevrolet Astro van with paper dealer plates.

Last Tuesday, a maroon Astro van was backed up to Hanshaw Liquor, 10971 Westminster Blvd., where three male passengers were seen tying a rope to the front doors and the tow hitch of the van.

The van was driven forward, pulling the doors off the hinges, allowing the two other burglars to get in and take several thousand California scratchers, according to a Garden Grove police statement.

"Seems awfully similar," Garden Grove police Lt. Bob Bogue said, adding that the two stores were just a half mile away from each other.

Several scratchers stolen in the Hanshaw Liquor burglary were claimed just hours later in Compton and Lynwood.

The burglars start scratching the tickets and try to cash them right away, before state lottery officials can flag the tickets, Bogue said.

"It's a pretty quick way to get cash, but smaller stores don't carry that much cash," Bogue said.

(©2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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