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Linda Carter is completely unrelated to Free Republic. But if I am going to have to post donation begs until the Freepathon is over, I'm going to occasionally post something I want! And there is only one way you can stop me! |
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Posted on 01/06/2004 9:30:45 PM PST by flutters
CLEVELAND -- The Ohio Lottery said Tuesday that a South Euclid woman turned in the winning ticket for the $162 million Mega Millions multistate lottery jackpot, a day after a Cleveland woman claimed she lost the winning ticket outside the convenience store where it was sold.
Rebecca Jemison turned in the ticket for the 11-state jackpot at Ohio Lottery headquarters in downtown Cleveland.
Elecia Battle, who claims the prize is hers, filed a lawsuit in Cuyahoga Common Pleas Court asking a judge to block the lottery from paying Jemison, the 34-year-old South Euclid resident who was declared the winner.
"My ticket was lost. I do recall all the numbers. They are all somehow family related. No one can tell me what I did and did not play. I did it honestly and I have no doubt," Battle told The Associated Press at the office of her attorney, Sheldon Starke.
Earlier, Jemison said the competing claim by Battle, 40, of Cleveland, prompted her to quit stalling and collect the prize from the Dec. 30 drawing.
Jemison said she was not worried about Cleveland native Elecia Battle's claim because she knew she had a valid ticket.
"First of all I want to clear up a few things that have come out in the press. One of them is that I've been playing these numbers for about two years," she said.
"After the initial shock I wanted to speak with an attorney, speak with an accountant before I decided to actually come forward," she said.
Jemison said she was angry and pushed to turn in the ticket after Battle's story was on the news.
Comment On Lottery Controversy
Jemison said she played the winning numbers occasionally over the past several years. She said she discovered she won after picking up a local newspaper outside her door step on New Year's Eve.
A hospital worker, Jemison said she did not believe she won at first and looked at the ticket several times before going to tell her mother.
Jemison took the immediate cash payment option, which is $94 million, before taxes. After taxes, the lump sum payment is an estimated $67.2 million. She and her husband, Sam, said their only definite plans are to relocate. They have a 12-year-old son.
Battle filed a police report saying she lost the ticket last week.
About 30 people with flashlights searched for the ticket Monday night outside the suburban Cleveland store after a police report Battle filed became public.
The Ohio Lottery said the ticket is a bearer note, which means whoever turns in a valid ticket is legally entitled to the winnings.
Ohio Lottery spokeswoman Mardele Cohen said Monday night that the bearer status makes the ticket "like cash."
But Battle intends to make a case that the winning ticket from the 11-state game is her lost property, said her lawyer, Sheldon Starke.
"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 and her attorney did not immediately return telephone messages seeking comment on the lottery's announcement.
Battle, 40, of Cleveland, filed a police report saying she dropped her purse as she left the Quick Shop Food Mart last week after buying the ticket. She said she realized after the drawing last Tuesday that the ticket was missing.
The Ohio Lottery said the winning ticket was sold at the store in South Euclid, about 15 miles east of Cleveland.
Police said Battle's story was credible because of knowledge of when the ticket was bought and how the numbers were chosen.
On Monday night, Battle tearfully told The Associated Press in an interview at her east Cleveland home that she hoped someone would return the ticket to her. She said a reward was possible.
"I'm praying that someone finds the ticket, brings it forward and gets rewarded and from there we all live happily ever after," she said.
She and her husband have seven children, some from previous marriages.
"To have something in your hand and have it slip out is a tough thing to swallow," said Jimmy Battle, who has two jobs, including a newspaper route.
Several people braved frigid temperatures to search for the ticket near the store Monday night, looking in snow-covered bushes and under cars in the parking lot.
"I decided to come back to see if I could find the winning ticket," said LaVerne Coleman, 57, who says she would keep the winnings if she found the ticket.
Police said Battle's story was credible and she cried 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 said 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.
If the jackpot hadn't been claimed by June 27, the money would have gone to Ohio and 10 other states that participate in the game.
Ohio Lottery Director Dennis Kennedy said officials were sure that Jemison is the rightful owner of the ticket.
Jemison provided the lottery with a receipt from the convenience store marking the time the ticket was bought, Kennedy said.
As for Battle's claim, Kennedy said he would let the police handle that and the lottery has no investigation.
After learning that Jemison turned in the winning ticket, South Euclid police Lt. Kevin Nietert said police could pursue criminal charges if Battle's claim was a lie.
The charge could be filing a false police report, a misdemeanor punishable by 30 days to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, Nietert said.
"From a police department point of view, it obviously draws into question the integrity of Elecia Battle's report," he said. "We're obviously going to address that with Miss Battle and her attorney and proceed appropriately, whatever that may be at this time, I don't know."
Nietert said he has not been able to reach Battle and her attorney by phone.
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Linda Carter is completely unrelated to Free Republic. But if I am going to have to post donation begs until the Freepathon is over, I'm going to occasionally post something I want! And there is only one way you can stop me! |
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JANUARY 6--The Ohio woman who told police that she purchased--and then lost--the winning $162 million Mega Millions lottery ticket--has several arrests on her rap sheet, including convictions for assault and credit card fraud, The Smoking Gun has learned. In addition, Elecia Battle is using an alias and has falsely claimed to be married to the man with whom she now lives.
Battle, whose real name is Elecia Dickson, apparently has borrowed the surname of boyfriend James Battle. The 40-year-old pharmacy worker remains legally married to husband Keith Dickson, though the couple is in the middle of a divorce action pending in Cuyahoga County's Court of Common Pleas.
Using the Battle alias, Dickson this afternoon filed a lawsuit seeking to block the awarding of the Mega Millions jackpot to Rebecca Jemison, the woman who came forward today to claim the lottery jackpot (and who was declared the winner by Ohio state officials).
According to court records and TSG sources, Dickson's rap sheet dates back at least a decade and includes busts for aggravated menacing, assault, and credit card fraud. The latter conviction, according to a source familiar with the case, stemmed from a 1999 swindle Dickson orchestrated at a suburban Cleveland chain store. The below mug shot was taken following Dickson's September 1999 arrest in Cleveland Heights for misdemeanor assault.
The woman's estranged husband--who's been married to Dickson for 13 years--told TSG, "My wife can stretch things out of proportion." He added, "Looks like she filed a bogus police report."
When she went to cops with her tale of the lost lottery ticket, officers asked Dickson how she picked the six winning numbers. A couple of the numbers came from one son's birth date, while another number was her son's age flipped. As for why she picked the winning number 49, Dickson told cops that her "husband turns 49 this year." That came as a surprise to Keith Dickson, himself a dedicated gambler and lottery player. "I'm 44," he said. "I turn 45 in February."
And I were her, I would offer Mz Battle a cool million to GO AWAY or else suffer the onslaught of a 5 million dollar investigation of EVERY ASPECT OF HER LIFE... and another 5 mill to commission an author to pen the unauthorized biography.
What does it matter? Some people randomly select a bunch of numbers once and then play them regularly. And from what I heard on the radio the person with the winning ticket was also incidentally able to show a couple of non-winning tickets that corroborate her purchase of the winner: a ticket purchased at the same time and place, but with different numbers, and a ticket purchased for an earlier drawing but with the same numbers as the winner.
Further, even if the person who presented the winning ticket had found it lying on the sidewalk, the prize would legally be hers. Unsigned lottery tickets are bearer instruments unless obtained criminally. Since nobody has claimed that the winning ticket was stolen from anybody, how it came to be in the winner's hands is irrelevant.
In the event that I found an unsigned ticket lying on the sidewalk and it turned out to be a big winner but someone else was able to convince me that they were the original purchaser, I would probably be willing to share the prize. Of course, that would be because I knew that I hadn't bought the ticket myself. If I found a signed lottery ticket, I'd be willing to return it to the original owner but would probably ask for some consideration. But in any event I see no legal basis whatsoever for a lawsuit.
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