Posted on 08/02/2009 2:08:30 PM PDT by arbooz
It was a $500,000 answer to his prayers and it was in his back pocket.
And then, suddenly, it wasn't. On his way to a Florida Lottery office Wednesday to claim his half-million-dollar prize, Louis Tolentino, a 69-year-old retiree who lives near Wellington, lost the ticket and any claim to the prize of a lifetime.
He says he had it in his pocket when he left for the lottery office. But he had trouble finding the location. He stopped at a convenience store to ask a clerk for directions.
Later, he realized the ticket, a Gold Rush scratch-off, was missing.
He panicked. He tore up his hands groping under the driver seat. He went back to the store where he bought it, Gold Coast Liquors on Lake Worth Road.
There was no sign of it anywhere.
Was it stolen? Did it slip from his pocket? He says he has no idea.
"It really hurts," he said.
The worst part, he said, is that in his excitement he forgot to sign the ticket. Without his signature, anyone who finds it could turn it in as his or her own.
(Excerpt) Read more at palmbeachpost.com ...
That’s OK. If he voted for obama, we’ll just give him the money anyway.
“Gold Coast Liquors” Could explain a lot.. Check our his nose!
Sucks to be him.
A ticket worth that much would be IN MY WALLET and no stops made on the way to cash it in. No excuses.
Don't be too let down, with Obama care he is close to soylent anyway unless he breaks free and runs with Logan.
Looks like that run hasn't quite finished.
I’m also suspicious because his wife has a fake sad look on her face rather than furious one.
"Doc, doc!" he cried, "I cut off my peter while I was shaving!"
"Let's see it!" says the doctor. So he pulls something out of this pocket and hands it to him.
"That's a cigar!" cries the doctor! So he reaches in again and pulls something out.
"That's a cigar too!" cries the doctor.
"Oh no!" screams the man, aghast. "I smoked it!"
He should have immediately signed the ticket.
If I were transporting something like that, it would go into a case, and I would be handcuffed to it. I’d probably be heavily armed too.
Why?
Did it state he had terminal cancer or something and I missed it?
My first guess is someone will find and will then cash the ticket. My second guess is that the ticket is in his car.
Oh, there's gonna be a reward for whoever finds the ticket, that's for damn sure!
You're sincere? Fascinating. Things do happen to people that cause them distress that have nothing to do with death.
I take it if the same thing happened to you, you'd simply say. "Oh well. What's for dinner honey?"
How very stoic.
If the wifey calls in from Tahiti tomorrow, he’ll know what happened.
This is the same West Palm Beach area of the infamous ‘butterfly ballot’ and people demanding a revote because for years (back up north) they had voted the straight Democrat Party Ticket by the first line. Is there something in the water over there? If this was a true story, I sympathize but as others have proffered, human error happens.
Ditto. Not only are they in dire financial straits where a lottery win would've answered all their prayers but he also "forgets" to sign the winning ticket!
Yeah, call me skeptical as well.
I hate it when that happens.
Nothing gained, nothing lost.
How stupid is someone who is carrying the equivalent of $500,000 in cash that they put it in their back pocket? WOW - we have become a nation of boobs!!
Moral of the story:.......Always sign your tickets right when you get them. Hope someone finds it and gives it to him (fat chance it will happen).
And why tell the media about something stupid you did? Maybe he's hoping people will send him money out of sympathy.
Sympathy and hoping they will give him the money if he goes to the media which isn’t going to happen. Maybe he is hoping someone will donate money.
He has no proof that he ever had it.
Yeah, sure, we believe this story...
This guy is going to be in a upcoming Town Hall meeting with the ZerO.
He’ll get called on and whine about the injustice. ZerO promises to enact a law..
Agreed. NOBODY is that stupid. I'm not buying it.
I’m not buying it. This guy wants a sympathy prize.
LOL!
When I first read that I read it as "My second guess is that the ticket is in his ear. It made sense, both ways.
Who tucks 500Gs into their back pocket? I'd have put it in a big biohazard envelope labeled "fecal sample" with my name all over it.
/johnny
some things ya dont tell others....this is one......(dork)
I can only imagine the sob stories and colorful explanations that lottery officials hear on a regular basis. "I had the winning ticket! I swear! It's true! Now gimme my money!"
what was his dick doing around his face or was it not his face he was shaving........?
And I had the true Howard Hughes will in my back pocket and was on my way to Reno to file it at the courthouse ...
It named the holder of said will (whoever it may be) as sole heir ...
However, at a gas station in the desert, I had to go #2 in the can ...
After I got to Reno, I realized the will wasn’t in my back pocket anymore - it MUST have slipped out while I was doing my business in the gas station can ...
Later, I learned that Melvin Dummar had stopped at the gas station and used the same stall as me ...
Oh well !!!
This fellow is a winner!
He bet his beerhall buddies $XXXX he could get his name and photo in local newspaper and spread out on the internet within 24 hrs without breaking any laws!
LOL.
Hopefully he didn't inhale....
The story would only be better if he left the ticket in a “cash for clunkers” trade in car.
Was it really a winner??
Oh, there's gonna be a reward for whoever finds the ticket, that's for damn sure!
I lost next weeks power ball winner, if you find it return it and I'll give you a ten dollar reward.
He had had numerous face lifts, I believe.
Maybe he suffers from Rosacea?
I work in a convience store. So far I have cashed over $150.00 worth of scratcher tickets that I have pulled from the trash can. Small amounts, $1,$2, $5, and two for $40.
Old people. You can set your watch by them.
That is bad luck. I find it suspicious that they scanned it at the store and he lost it while going to his car. I did notice his nose. Perhaps he’s a well known regular who had a ‘nip’ or even was given a shot and some counter guy knew and during the excitement someone tricked the old man. I know it’s a “lost case” now (pun intended), but perhaps he should get a lawyer. The machine should have a record somewhere that the winning ticket was scanned. That is, if this story is true.
If his life evolves around a lottery ticket then perhaps you are right....It sucks to be him.
Nothing gained, nothing lost.”
However: if the store clerk suddenly quits and has a new car and house, we have the mystery solved.
Oh, there’s gonna be a reward for whoever finds the ticket, that’s for damn sure!
For a fact Jack!
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