Pontiac Man Accused In Multiple Lottery Ticket Thefts At CVS Stores: 'I Can't Stop Stealing'

LAKE ORION (WWJ) - A Pontiac man who told police he just "can't stop stealing" is accused of posing as an agent with the Michigan Lottery and stealing tickets at various CVS stores in Oakland and Macomb counties.

The case started back in February when managers at a CVS in Lake Orion called police about lottery tickets being stolen. Store managers told police that an official lottery agent who takes care of their scratch off tickets noticed "an anomaly in tickets," and also mentioned several reports of a suspect going to CVS locations and posing as an agent in an attempt to steal tickets.

Store management began reviewing surveillance video and discovered that on January 26 and again on January 29, the same unknown male suspect accessed the lottery display by convincing store staff he was there to service the display, according to police. During these incidents, $1,350 in scratch off lottery tickets were stolen.

Detectives began working with investigators from the Michigan Lottery collecting video surveillance from other CVS locations across Macomb and Oakland counties that showed the same suspect stealing or attempting to steal lottery tickets at numerous locations, according to police.

Investigators at the Warren police department were able to lift one of the suspect's fingerprint from an incident in their community that led to the suspect being identified as 40-year-old David Sharon Witherspoon, of Pontiac Michigan. Police say Witherspoon matched the description of the suspect caught on video at all of the locations.

"On April 1, Lake Orion police obtained and executed a search warrant on the suspect's home in Pontiac where evidence was recovered that connected Witherspoon to the crimes," Police Chief Jerry Narsh said in a statement.

Officers also discovered that Witherspoon was currently lodged in the Oakland County Jail from an arrest two days earlier by Wixom police for felony fleeing and eluding and driving on a suspended license.

"Investigators interviewed Witherspoon, who admitted to the crimes, stating he 'finds himself stealing all the time, I can't stop stealing,'" said Narsh.

On Tuesday, Witherspoon was arraigned in the 52/3 District Court on one count of first-degree retail fraud, a 5-year felony.

Witherspoon -- whose extensive criminal history including multiple convictions for felony retail fraud, receiving and concealing stolen property, car theft, possession of heroin and bank robbery --remains in the Oakland County Jail on a $10,000 cash bond. He's due back in court for a preliminary exam on April 28.