Anytime a man includes the words "I am not a stupid person" in a letter, you just know he's done something stupid. In Bryan Lietz's defence, working overnights can make desperate fools of the best of us. Alone at his 11 p.m. start and the 7 a.m. end of his shift at a Perham, Minnesota, filling station, Lietz was drawn to the station's scratch lotteries. It started with one ticket, but soon $1,400 (U.S.) worth of tickets had been scratched and Lietz hadn't paid for a single one. Then he sat down to write an apology to his boss.

"I scratched without paying," the letter explained. "I know better. But I did it anyway."

In addition to being fired, Lietz has been charged with felony state lottery fraud. Lietz has already sent $1,400 to the station's owner, and plans to refund $700-worth of winnings, which he used to buy more tickets hoping in vain to win enough to cover his debt.

» Scott Saxon