BATON ROUGE - A 20-year-old Baton Rouge woman was arrested after she allegedly stole and fraudulently cashed scratch-off lottery tickets at her place of work.

According to arrest records, the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office was informed of the theft by management from a local convenience store.

Surveillance video in the store was reviewed, and captured the suspect, Daja Allen, as she allegedly "took scratch-off tickets from the store without purchasing them and would scratch the tickets while at work," according to arrest records.

Allen would allegedly scratch off the barcode, scan the ticket and cash it if it was a winning ticket, according to arrest records.

The store lost approximately $5,273 in profit from the theft of tickets and $2,389 from fraudulently cashing the winnings, according to arrest records.

On Sept. 8, Allen was detained and transported to the East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office Headquarters to be interviewed.

After being advised her rights, Allen stated she took the lotto tickets and fraudulently cashed in the winnings because her family was behind on bills.

Allen was charged and booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on one count of theft and false or altered lottery tickets.