| נשלח ב-6/1/2004 19:51 |
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bar mazel
Woman claims $162 million Mega Millions ticket lost
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CLEVELAND (AP) — A Cleveland woman has told police she picked the winning numbers for the $162 million Mega Millions lottery jackpot but lost the ticket before the drawing, according to a police report.
Elecia Battle told police she dropped her purse as she left the Quick Shop Food Mart in suburban South Euclid last week after buying the ticket. She said she realized after the drawing last Tuesday that the ticket was missing.
The Ohio Lottery said last week that the winning ticket was sold at the store, about 15 miles east of Cleveland.
''I feel like crap right now,'' said Battle, who cried while speaking to The Associated Press at her home Monday night.
Police say Battle also was in tears when she came to the station Friday to file the report and did not hesitate when asked to write down the winning numbers.
''We don't believe that she's fabricating it, but there's no real way of knowing other than going on her word,'' Lt. Kevin Nieter told Cleveland's WEWS-TV on Monday.
Nieter said information Battle knew about when the ticket was bought and how the numbers were picked make her story credible. She told police that the numbers — 12, 18, 21, 32 and 46 and Mega Ball 49 — represented family birthdays and ages.
The winning ticket was sold to someone who chose the numbers, not someone who let the machine pick.
Messages seeking comment left Monday with the police department were not immediately returned.
Battle, 40, is a pharmacy trainer for Rite-Aid. She would not talk about the specifics of when she bought the ticket, how she lost it or even if she was a regular lottery player. She said her attorney, Sheldon Starke, would have a news conference Tuesday to announce a reward.
''I'm praying that someone finds the ticket, brings it forward and gets rewarded and from there we all live happily ever after. I'm just praying it has a positive ending,'' she said.
Her husband, Jimmy Battle, has two jobs, including a paper route. The couple has seven children — some from previous marriages — ranging in age from 13 to 30.
''To have something in your hand and have it slip out is a tough thing to swallow,'' said Jimmy Battle, 48.
Nieter said Elecia Battle may be out of luck if someone else picked up the lone winning ticket.
''Whoever has the ticket has the right to stake the claim to the winning jackpot. You can file all the police reports you want but it's not going to help,'' he said.
After news of Battle's police report spread Monday night, about 30 people wielding flashlights walked through snow and braved frigid temperatures to try to find the ticket in the store parking lot and nearby bushes.
''I decided to come back to see if I could find the winning ticket,'' said LaVerne Coleman, 57. The South Euclid woman said she would keep the millions if she found the ticket.
The police report says officers tried to see if Battle showed up on the store's surveillance cameras but the store owner said the cameras were broken.
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| נשלח ב-6/1/2004 20:10 |
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שּקּרּ it was a big
--------------Woman Wins $162M Mega Millions Jackpot
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Jan 6, 12:03 PM (ET)
By JOE MILICIA
(AP) A customer, bottom left, leaves the Quick Shop Food Mart Monday, Jan. 5, 2004, in South Euclid,...
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CLEVELAND (AP) - A woman turned in the winning ticket for the $162 million Mega Millions multistate lottery jackpot, and it was not the one who claimed she lost it, lottery officials said Tuesday.
Rebecca Jemison, a hospital worker from South Euclid, turned in the 11-state jackpot at Ohio Lottery headquarters in downtown Cleveland, officials said. The lottery validated the sole winning ticket Tuesday morning for the drawing a week ago.
"I think I checked it about five or six times to make sure to see was it real," Jemison said at a news conference at lottery headquarters.
She said she told her mother even before telling her husband. "Being a mama's girl I wanted to share the news with my mama first," she added. She also talked to an attorney and an accountant.
(AP) Elecia Battle holds open her purse Monday, Jan. 5, 2004 in Cleveland. Battle told police she...
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"One thing I want to make clear: Luck had nothing to do with it. It was truly a blessing, truly a blessing," she said.
Earlier, a Cleveland woman, Elecia Battle, 40, filed a police report saying she lost the ticket last week. Police said her story was credible, but the Ohio Lottery said whoever turned in a valid ticket was legally entitled to the winnings.
About 30 people with flashlights searched for the ticket Monday night outside the suburban Cleveland store that sold the ticket after Battle's police report became public.
Jemison said she was angry and pushed to turn in the ticket after Battle's story was on the news. Jemison said she played the winning numbers occasionally over the past several years.
Battle's lawyer, Sheldon Starke, did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the lottery's announcement. He had said she intended to make a case that the winning ticket was lost property.
"This is a question of lost property, not abandoned property," he said earlier Tuesday. "If there is one type of property that is not presumed to be abandoned, it's money ... Anyone who finds it is not the owner."
Battle told police that the numbers - 12, 18, 21, 32 and 46 and Mega Ball 49 - represented family birthdays and ages.
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| נשלח ב-6/1/2004 22:48 |
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בת מזל
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