Man arrested for cashing in lottery tickets, South Carolina cops say. Here’s why
A Georgia man was arrested after he recently cashed in winning lottery tickets, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division said. The 31-year-old from Forsyth, Georgia was locked up because he stole those lottery tickets, according to an arrest warrant.
On April 24, John Marquell Bunyon was charged with intent to defraud, counterfeit game tickets, SLED said Monday in a news release.
Two days earlier, Bunyon was charged with second-degree burglary and malicious injury to animals, personal property, injury (value $2000 or less), jail records show.
All the charges stem from an April 21 incident, when Bunyon burglarized the Piggly Wiggly grocery store at 221 Cherokee Road in Florence, according to an arrest warrant. During that burglary, Bunyon stole the lottery tickets, the arrest warrant shows.
On April 22, Bunyon passed four scratch-off tickets at On The Go gas station/convenience store at 221 West Darlington St. in Florence, according to the arrest warrant. That’s about a mile from the Piggly Wiggly.
Both the burglary and cashing of stolen tickets were captured on surveillance footage, the arrest warrant said.
The four winning stolen tickets were redeemed for a combined prize of $80, according to the arrest warrant.
Bunyon was arrested on other two charges April 22 and booked into the Florence County Detention Center, jail records show. Bunyon’s bond was set at $5,000 on the lottery fraud charge, and the total bond for the combined three charges was set at $32,000, according to jail records.
Bunyon remains locked up in the Florence County jail, records show.
The South Carolina Education Lottery asked SLED to investigate the lottery fraud charge, according to the release.
Bunyon’s case will be prosecuted by the 12th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.
On April 20, the day before the Piggly Wiggly was burglarized, Bunyon pleaded guilty to a weapons/possession of firearm or ammunition by person convicted of certain crimes charge, Florence County court records show.
That charge was from a Dec. 8, 2025, arrest, when he was also charged with report/giving false information to law enforcement, according to court records. Bunyon also pleaded guilty to that charge, court records show.
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This story was originally published May 4, 2026 at 2:06 PM.
