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2 Men Arrested In Garden Grove Lottery Ticket Heists, 2 More At Large

GARDEN GROVE (CBSLA.com) — Police say they have arrested two men in two elaborate convenience store burglaries aimed at stealing thousands of lottery tickets.

Daniel Soto, 35, and Emmanuel Quintero, 33, both of Compton, were arrested in connection with at least two Garden Grove break-ins and may be connected with other similar burglaries in Downey, Maywood and Whittier, according to Garden Grove police.

Two more suspects in the break-ins remain at large – Juan Carlos Meza, 35, of Wilmington, and Augustin Gutierrez, 22, of Carson.

garden grove lottery tix at large
Left, Augustin Gutierrez. Right, Juan Carlos Meza. (credit: Garden Grove Police Department)

The most recent break-in was at 2:50 a.m. Tuesday at Shop and Go Liquor, 13682 Euclid St., Garden Grove police Lt. Bob Bogue said. In this burglary, a white minivan was backed up to the front door, and two of the men got out and pulled the front doors off by tying a rope on the door and pulling them off with the van.

When the suspects got inside, they tied a rope to an ATM near the front door, while another grabbed an unknown number of California Lottery Scratchers from the check-out counter, Bogue said.

The burglars got back in the van and tried to drive away with the rope tethered to the ATM, but the rope snapped, and the thieves fled without it, he said.

The week before, on May 16, two burglars used a Chevrolet Astro van and a rope to pry the doors off Hanshaw Liquors, 10971 Westminster Ave., at about 4:45 a.m., and stolen several thousand California Scratchers tickets.

Some of the winning tickets were claimed a few hours later at convenience stores in Compton and Lynwood.

Garden Grove police got a break in the case when they found the red van used in the burglary at Hanshaw's Liquor store, police said. It was stolen in Garden Grove and was found a mile away on May 17.

Evidence from this Tuesday's break-in led police to a Compton residence, where several of the suspects reside, Bogue said. After serving a search warrant and arresting Soto, detectives recovered a handgun, an ounce of methamphetamine, stolen lottery tickets, a stolen cash register and ropes believed to have been used in the burglaries.

Quintero was in custody after allegedly leading Fountain Valley on a chase Wednesday, police said, but Soto escaped.

(©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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