Authorities have apprehended a man who allegedly stole California Lottery tickets from small businesses around Southern California for years.
In a news release issued on Monday, Ventura County Sheriff’s Office officials stated that a multi-agency investigation, which included the Los Angeles Police Department, Camarillo Police Department, and California State Lottery Investigators, identified 45-year-old Los Angeles man Raul Jr. Najera as the “prime suspect” in the burglaries.
“Between 2024 and July 2025, the cities of Camarillo and Thousand Oaks were hit with five targeted burglaries,” according to a release. “Small business owners woke up to shattered glass, broken gates, and thousands of stolen lottery scratchers.”
Investigators found that Najera was one of the suspects involved in the suspected burglaries, along with a rotating crew of accomplices who have yet to be identified while the investigation continues.
They claim that Najera directed the organized burglaries on vulnerable “mom-and-pop” establishments, which resulted in the theft of about $10,000 in lottery tickets. Those tickets were “quickly redeemed in South Los Angeles” barely hours after being taken.
“Najera was previously linked to identical burglaries in Camarillo in 2020,” the VSCO announcement read. “On August 12, 2025, during this investigation, Najera was caught by LAPD investigators in Los Angeles committing a lottery ticket burglary with other co-conspirators.”
After presenting the criminal cases to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office, deputies obtained an arrest warrant for Najera. He remains in detention at the Los Angeles County Jail as VSCO tries to arrange his arrest and transfer.
He is facing five felony burglary accusations.
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