Virginia Beach, Va. - It’s a not-so-elaborate scheme, that police say, could have landed a Virginia Beach woman on the list of dumbest criminals.

Ariel Sinclair is accused of stealing nearly $6,000 in cash from the Virginia State Lottery.

But, it's how she did it that has police scratching their heads.

“If you're providing your fingerprint to access this machine I have no idea how, in your mind, you're thinking you're going to get away with this,” said Adam Bernstein of the Virginia Beach Police Department.

Police say the 23-year-old worked as an assistant manager at the Rite Aid on Holland Road.

They say she used her own fingerprint to gain access to the store's lottery machine and the cash inside, a blunder that pointed police in her direction.

“We work a lot of different cases some are much more difficult than others but this one, pretty easy, when the person's providing their fingerprint in order to obtain the override,” said Bernstein.

Sinclair has been charged with embezzlement. She was released from jail on a promise to return to court. A preliminary hearing is set for early November.