A 52-year-old man who serviced Arizona Lottery machines for years is now facing three felony counts after investigators say he cornered a Phoenix gas station clerk and groped her while she was working alone, following her inside the store when she tried to get away. David William Reeves was arrested at his Peoria home on August 6 and remains held in a Maricopa County jail on a $25,000 bond.
According to FOX 10 Phoenix, the alleged assault happened on July 29 at a gas station near 43rd Avenue and Northern Avenue, where the victim was working alone. She had been photographing a damaged lottery machine to send to her manager when Reeves allegedly grabbed her left breast, according to court documents. When she yelled at him to stop and backed away, investigators say he followed her inside the store and tried to grab her breast a third time.
Reeves has worked as a territory manager servicing lottery machines since 2019, and the Arizona Lottery confirmed it is an employee, per the report gathered from Maricopa County Superior Court records. Reeves is not directly employed by the state lottery agency itself, however; the Arizona Lottery contracts its instant ticket warehousing, distribution, and retail field management staffing to Winnipeg-based Pollard Banknote Limited under an agreement running through August 2029. Pollard Banknote employs dedicated territory sales managers in the Phoenix area whose job is to visit retail locations, inspect equipment, and service lottery terminals — the exact kind of visit that put Reeves inside the gas station that day, according to a job listing reviewed by ZipRecruiter.
A Comment Prosecutors Say Reveals Intent
Store surveillance video captured the encounter and, according to police records, corroborated the clerk's account of the assault. During a court hearing, prosecutor Brooke Gaunt argued that a comment Reeves allegedly made afterward undercuts any claim of accident: he allegedly told the victim, “You didn't have a problem with it the first time.” Gaunt said that remark gives the inference that the contact was intentional, and she told the court authorities were concerned that Reeves posed a danger.
Reeves' defense attorney countered that any physical contact was unintentional, the outlet's report notes. Reeves requested an attorney after investigators showed him surveillance still photos during questioning on August 6, according to the same account.
Court-Ordered Monitoring and What Comes Next
A judge set Reeves' bond at $25,000 on August 7 and ordered mandatory electronic monitoring along with curfew restrictions should he post bail. Under Maricopa County Superior Court Pretrial Services protocols, defendants released with electronic monitoring are fitted with GPS tracking devices managed by probation officers to enforce curfews and stay-away orders. Reeves is due back in court on August 12, when Maricopa County felony cases typically move toward preliminary hearings or status conferences to evaluate probable cause, per Maricopa County Attorney's Office procedures.
Reeves faces three counts of felony sexual abuse. Under Arizona Revised Statutes § 13-1404, sexual abuse involves intentional or knowing non-consensual sexual contact and is classified as a Class 5 felony — a lower tier than sexual assault, which requires non-consensual intercourse. Arizona Revised Statutes § 13-702 sets a presumptive prison sentence of 1.5 years for a first-time, non-dangerous offender convicted of a Class 5 felony, with a statutory range between 9 months and 2.5 years and fines up to $150,000 per count, according to the Arizona State Legislature. Felony sexual abuse under that statute does not automatically require sex offender registration unless the victim is under 18 or a judge specifically orders it upon conviction, per a summary from R&R Law Group.
Lottery Agency Response and Broader Retail Safety Concerns
The Arizona Lottery said it was made aware of a criminal incident involving a contract employee and said the safety and integrity of its operations remain its highest priorities, but it said it is unable to provide further comment while the investigation is active. It remains unclear whether Pollard Banknote or the lottery agency had received any prior complaints about Reeves during his years in the field, or whether investigators are reviewing his past service calls at other Phoenix-area retail locations.
The case underscores risks that solitary retail workers face during otherwise routine visits from vendors and contractors. Federal workplace safety guidelines from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration note that late-night retail environments such as gas stations and convenience stores carry elevated risks of workplace violence, with historic convenience store homicide rates reaching up to 14 times the private-industry average. National survey data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics similarly shows that retail sales workers and gas station attendants experience higher annual rates of nonfatal workplace violence than most other private-sector occupations.
