83-year-old woman ‘violently’ robbed of lottery winnings outside store, Florida cops say

A man was caught on video assaulting an 83-year-old woman while “violently” trying to steal her lottery winnings, Florida authorities said.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office identified the suspect as 24-year-old Diego Stalin Tavarez Fleury, who recently pleaded guilty to felony third-degree grand theft and drug offenses after he was accused of stealing a moped in August.

He’s now been arrested on charges of robbery by sudden snatching and battery on a person 65 years of age or older. The sheriff’s office released a video of the lottery theft.

The morning of Jan. 15, a woman walked out of Buddy’s Food and Lotto in Orlando after collecting her lottery winnings, deputies said.

Fleury, dressed in orange, approached the woman from another part of the strip mall and tried to snatch the money from her as she was about to get in her car, a video shows.

She resisted him, and he stepped back for a moment, then a bystander came out of the store and distracted Fleury, according to the video.

But then he rushed back over to the woman and tried grabbing the money again, this time more forcefully, the video shows.

The bystander tried to pull him off the woman as she fell, but Fleury dragged her on the ground by the hand until the bystander managed to wrench him away, according to the video.

Fleury grabbed about $200 from the women before he ran away from the parking lot, deputies said.

On Jan. 16, the sheriff’s office said he was arrested.

This story was originally published January 16, 2025 at 10:17 AM with the headline "83-year-old woman ‘violently’ robbed of lottery winnings outside store, Florida cops say."