An Eatonton man lost his truck while playing the lottery.
The 45-year-old said he stopped at the Golden Pantry on Oak Street and went inside to buy a lottery ticket on Friday, Jan. 2, around 8 p.m., according to Eatonton Police Department reports.
While he was inside the convenience store, the man saw someone get inside his black 2016 GMC Sierra 1500 pickup and drive away.
The truck owner told Eatonton Police Officer Nathan Crooks that he’d left the keys in the ignition and the truck engine running while he went inside the store. His iPhone, prescription glasses, and other items were in the pickup.
The stolen truck’s information was immediately put on the Georgia Crime Information Center system, according to Crooks’ report. Eatonton Police Chief Howell Cardwell said Flock cameras enabled them to locate the truck and determine where it went.
According to reports, the pickup was seen by law enforcement officers in Jones County, who tried to pull the vehicle over. The driver, later identified as Vantavious Merritt, did not pull over but instead tried to speed away.
“But OnStar was able to prevent him from speeding up,” EPD Officer Jeremy McClure wrote in his report.
Merritt parked the GMC in a residential driveway, jumped out, and ran away. Gray Police Department officers found and detained him and notified EPD.
Officer Crooks went to Gray, inspected the GMC, which he said was not damaged, and returned it to its owner.
There were no reports of how the victim fared in the lottery.
Merritt told Crooks he did not know the vehicle's owner. Chief Cardwell said it was apparently a crime of opportunity because the truck was left unattended and running.
“He’d been squatting in an unoccupied house and had been told to leave it, so I guess he chose the truck to leave in,” Cardwell said.
Merritt, 47, of Atlanta, is being held in the Jones County Jail, facing fleeing and eluding charges. After his case is finished there, he’ll return to Eatonton to face felony theft charges.