Man arrested in string of lottery scratcher robberies pleads not guilty

A man who was arrested on suspicion of stealing lottery scratchers in a string of convenience store robberies in Santa Ana and Costa Mesa pleaded not guilty Tuesday to felony charges.

Raffik Silva Zafret, 26, of Santa Ana is facing four counts of second-degree robbery and one count of unlawful possession of a loaded firearm, all felonies. He’s also facing possible sentencing enhancements on allegations that he personally used a firearm, according to Orange County Superior Court records.

Police allege Zafret first robbed two stores March 22 in Santa Ana — one on West MacArthur Boulevard at 8 p.m. and the other on Fairview Road at 8:45 p.m. — each time fleeing with lottery scratchers.

At about 9:05 p.m., Costa Mesa police responded to a report of a robbery at the Circle K at 3470 Fairview Road. Police allege Zafret took about $600 worth of scratchers from the store.

About 10 minutes later, Santa Ana police responded to a report of a robbery at a store on South Bristol Street.

The total value of the scratchers stolen from the four stores isn’t clear.

Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said that in each robbery, a man walked up to the counter — sometimes after waiting in line — with a wad of cash in his hand and asked for lottery scratchers. After the cashier scanned the scratchers, activating them, the man lifted his shirt to expose a gun in his waistband, Bertagna said.

Authorities on Friday released photos of the man from surveillance footage in an effort to identify him.

Santa Ana police found Zafret in his car on Saturday in the 3900 block of South Bristol Street and took him into custody. It isn’t clear how authorities connected Zafret to the robberies.

Zafret was booked into Orange County Jail in Santa Ana with bail set at $1 million. He is expected to appear in court April 26 for a pretrial hearing, according to court and jail records.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN