Nurse at scene of lotto mart robbery allegedly stole tickets as clerk lay dead or dying

A nurse who was a patron inside a Houston County video poker and lottery shop last week when it was robbed by a trio of armed bandits is now accused of stealing lottery tickets from the store in the moments after its clerk was mortally wounded.

Lakiesha Deshawn McGhee, 43, of Bonaire was arrested Monday on charges of theft by taking and tampering with evidence. The charges are not related to the deadly shooting and robbery in which McGhee herself was a victim.

Investigators said McGhee, a licensed practical nurse, dialed 911 in the wee hours of Jan. 18 after one of the gunmen shot and killed the clerk, Sabrina Renee Dollar, 43, in a small office at the J&J Dollar Store, a converted house also known as Knodishall Gift Shop.

The shop, where customers can play video poker and buy lottery tickets, sits along Knodishall Drive about 250 feet north of Watson Boulevard, half a mile east of Carl Vinson Parkway.

In a Friday statement announcing McGhee’s arrest, Houston Sheriff’s Capt. Jon Holland noted that McGhee had been inside the store when the bandits burst in.

The robbery and the shooting were recorded by security cameras.

Holland’s statement also said McGhee called for help in the immediate aftermath of the clerk’s shooting.

“However, evidence was discovered that showed (McGhee) removing lottery tickets from the office where the victim was found,” the statement said. “Also, McGhee disconnected the power to the building security system for a brief period before law enforcement and other first responders arrived.”

The statement didn’t mention the value of the lottery tickets that McGhee allegedly pocketed.

Holland told The Telegraph by phone Friday evening that McGhee appeared to have checked on the clerk’s wounds before taking the tickets in the moments before police arrived.

Video footage of the stickup which was shared publicly by investigators — who are still searching for the culprits — showed McGhee and another woman near some video poker machines when the gunmen walked in about 12:15 a.m. on Jan. 18.

McGhee, wearing a pinkish sweatshirt, was seated and holding a handful of cash. One of the gunmen, apparently seeing the money, strode over with a plastic bag in hand. McGhee and the woman standing beside her put the money they were holding in the bag.

A second or two later, one of the other gunmen who had by then ducked into the shop’s office maybe 20 feet away, opened fire, killing the clerk.