Over $6,500 in lottery tickets stolen by Reston man, police say

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — A man has been arrested for a string of lottery ticket robberies in Reston.

Fairfax County Police officers responded to a call of larceny and assault at a convenience store on Sept. 15 on the 2900 block of Chain Bridge Road in Oakton. At the store, they found that a man had gone behind the counter and stolen lottery tickets while the clerk was away doing something else. When the clerk came back to the counter, the man assaulted him and ran out of the store.

With this information, detectives connected the incident with two similar incidents earlier in September.

He did this five more times over the next 10 days before police caught him, police say. On Sept. 26, 39-year-old Mohammad Akhtar was arrested.

Over $6,500 in lottery tickets was stolen from six separate stores on eight different occasions between Sept. 11 and 26. 

Akhtar was charged with grand larceny, five counts of larceny by false pretense, and five counts of petit larceny. He is currently being held without bond at the Fairfax County Detention Center.

If you have any information on this case, police are asking you to contact the Major Crimes Bureau at 703-246-7800, option 5.