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Grandfather ($314.9 million PowerBall jackpot winner)blames girl's death on drugs
Bakersfield Californian ^ | 12/23/04 | Erik Schelzig - AP

Posted on 12/23/2004 9:38:29 PM PST by NormsRevenge

HINTON, W.Va. (AP) - The nation's largest lottery winner blamed his granddaughter's recent death on a drug overdose and said he wants the friends he says gave the drugs to her to be put in jail.

Jack Whittaker's comments came as a medical examiner was preparing a toxicology report on Brandi Bragg, 17, whose body was found earlier this week wrapped in a plastic tarp on property owned by a boyfriend's father.

"All of the problems I have had are because of my granddaughter's friends, her drug-using friends," Whittaker said. "I'm going to find them and put them in jail. It's not her fault, it's the people who sold drugs because they weren't taken off the street."

The father of Bragg's boyfriend, Steve Crosier, told reporters soon after the discovery of the body that his son Brandon and Bragg were friends and had dated. "All I know is she OD'd and Brandon freaked out," he said. He later said he didn't know how Bragg died.

No charges have been filed.

Putnam County Prosecutor Mark Sorsaia, who is investigating Bragg's death, declined to comment on a possible drug involvement. Bragg's Dec. 5 death is being treated as a missing person case that ended in death, not a homicide.

Whittaker, who won a $314.9 million Powerball jackpot on Christmas Day 2002, is now preparing for a Christmas Eve funeral for his only granddaughter.

"She was my world, you understand that?" he said.

Whittaker remarked in an interview last year that people had started to befriend his granddaughter for her money rather than her personality. Since his lottery win, she had moved into her own apartment and drove several vehicles, including a Hummer and a Cadillac Escalade.

"She had too much money," said Becky Layton, who once cared for Bragg when she lived with her grandparents. "I could point fingers all day long; the money is the root of it all I would say."

In September, an 18-year-old friend of Bragg's was found dead at Whittaker's home following a drug overdose. Whittaker was out of town at the time.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; US: West Virginia
KEYWORDS: blames; death; drugs; grandfather; lottery; powerball; winner
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1 posted on 12/23/2004 9:38:30 PM PST by NormsRevenge
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To: NormsRevenge

Sometimes I'm glad I'm 'poor'.


2 posted on 12/23/2004 9:41:21 PM PST by cyborg (http://mentalmumblings.blogspot.com/)
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To: NormsRevenge

Somebody dropped the ball on this little girl, who was in touch from her family?


3 posted on 12/23/2004 9:44:24 PM PST by 26lemoncharlie (Defending America)
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To: cyborg
I hear ya.

It's like the Curse of the Mummy Money..

No explaining it really , it just happened.

4 posted on 12/23/2004 9:45:03 PM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ...... The War on Terrorism is the ultimate 'faith-based' initiative.)
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To: NormsRevenge

Gee, Grandpa. You're not feeling pangs of guilt are you?


5 posted on 12/23/2004 9:46:08 PM PST by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all)
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To: 26lemoncharlie

Not sure but it sounds like she may have had a less than ideal family upbringing environment, for whatever reasons.

sad ,, 17 years old and granddad is loaded (in more ways than one if you follow his legal escapades since he won).


6 posted on 12/23/2004 9:47:57 PM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ...... The War on Terrorism is the ultimate 'faith-based' initiative.)
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Comment #7 Removed by Moderator

To: NormsRevenge
"All of the problems I have had are because of my granddaughter's friends, her drug-using friends," Whittaker said....It's not her fault, it's the people who sold drugs because they weren't taken off the street...." >BR>
...In September, an 18-year-old friend of Bragg's was found dead at Whittaker's home following a drug overdose....


In Other, Related News:

People who were on the street declined to be interviewed for this story, and the house took the Fifth Amendment and was heard to whisper, "Lottery Winner Houses Don't Kill People, People Kill People."
8 posted on 12/23/2004 9:48:37 PM PST by The Spirit Of Allegiance (REMEMBER THE ALGOREAMO--relentlessly hammer on the TRUTH, like the Dems demand recounts)
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To: NormsRevenge

They had a bad situation...even before the winnings. This girl would have died from drugs if he had never won the lotto...although she would have been in her mid-20s probably in that case. If Americans really understood the grip of drugs on high school kids in the US...they'd be shocked.


9 posted on 12/23/2004 9:50:36 PM PST by pepsionice
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To: NormsRevenge
Since his lottery win, she had moved into her own apartment and drove several vehicles, including a Hummer and a Cadillac Escalade.

Somehow I doubt this went over too well in rural West Virginia, a 17-year-old driving better cars than most of those people will ever own in their entire lives.

If you're the type that a sudden windfall will turn into a snob, it's best that you move to where the snobs are.

However, I seem to recall that Whitaker wasn't exactly poor even before the lottery win. This kid probably would have been showing off no matter what.

10 posted on 12/23/2004 9:53:00 PM PST by Dont Mention the War (W2: Coming January 20, 2005! Be There!)
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To: NormsRevenge
whose body was found earlier this week wrapped in a plastic tarp

Echoes of Twin Peaks...

11 posted on 12/23/2004 9:55:25 PM PST by The Electrician
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To: cyborg

Lord knows what kind of goofball relatives would come out of the woods if I won the lottery. Some of the ones I am aware of are bad enough.


12 posted on 12/23/2004 9:57:23 PM PST by flying Elvis
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To: cyborg

I read an article in the Charleston, WV newspaper about this girl. She had her own apartment, drove a Hummer and a Cadillac Escalade. Her father is deceased and the mother remarried. Her grandfather made the news often for brawling and drinking. And this immature girl was most likely treated like an adult. No one to look after her and now shes gone on. What a sad commentary on a short life. All the money she wanted and we see what it did. Living the working class life style looks pretty good compared to this. And, there is the grandmother whom I feel very sorry for. She made a statement a few days ago that she wished she had torn that multi million ticket up.


13 posted on 12/23/2004 9:58:14 PM PST by fabriclady
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To: flying Elvis

Yep! You'd have family you never knew you had... people are such parasites LOL


14 posted on 12/23/2004 9:58:14 PM PST by cyborg (http://mentalmumblings.blogspot.com/)
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To: Dont Mention the War

News reports locally, are, that she had SEVEN vehicles. When is enough, enough?

The grandfather believes he is above the law and faces 2 DUI's now, plus one or two assaults and / or batteries.

They should have done two things after winning:

-Found a lawyer, established a Trust, remained anonymous;

-Left town, and established a new identity.


15 posted on 12/23/2004 10:00:46 PM PST by ZOTnot (Nov 3: 'I WILL NOT gloat'; 'I WILL NOT gloat'; 'I WILL NOT gloat': [4 MORE YEARS!])
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To: fabriclady

yeah this Whittaker guy is a real prize......two DUI's, been robbed, mugged, dead relatives......his wife was even on the news saying she wished she had torn up the ticket and she was DEAD serious......poor planning by idiots who never had money and spent it like they didn't want to die with any either


16 posted on 12/23/2004 10:02:19 PM PST by NorCalRepub
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To: pepsionice

"If Americans really understood the grip of drugs on high school kids in the US...they'd be shocked"

It is Lack of Parenting

If Americans really understood the grip of the Government School System in the US...

We should be OUTRAGED!
(Sorry Pet Peeve - Ranks right up there with nanny cops and Seatbelts)


17 posted on 12/23/2004 10:02:37 PM PST by TexasTransplant (NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSET)
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To: flying Elvis
Lord knows what kind of goofball relatives would come out of the woods if I won the lottery. Some of the ones I am aware of are bad enough.

Standard advice for new lottery winners is to change your phone number and move into a hotel room temporarily (or even better, leave town if you can) before you even turn in the ticket. You should also hire an assistant to handle all your incoming mail and calls for at least a year or so. Why? Because once your name is published, not only will all your little-known relatives start coming out of the woodwork, so will thousands of people you've never met before and have no relationship to you at all ... and every single one of them will be begging for money.

18 posted on 12/23/2004 10:04:12 PM PST by Dont Mention the War (W2: Coming January 20, 2005! Be There!)
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To: NormsRevenge
In September, an 18-year-old friend of Bragg's was found dead at Whittaker's home following a drug overdose. Whittaker was out of town at the time.

Sounds like she had a drug problem for some time

I feel sorry for this guy .. but he should have stuck that money in some kind of trust until she could be responsible with that kind of money

19 posted on 12/23/2004 10:05:38 PM PST by Mo1 (Should be called Oil for Fraud and not Oil for Food)
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To: NorCalRepub
poor planning by idiots who never had money and spent it like they didn't want to die with any either

Oh yes they did. Whitaker is some sort of local businessman, and already had a net worth of at least a couple of million dollars. (I distinctly remember how pissed off a lot of people were when he won. Everyone was hoping that some working class stiff would have gotten it, and instead some low-rent hillbilly version of J.R. Ewing showed up on TV instead.) That's certainly not crazy rich, but it's rich enough that you'd think they would have had some clue on how to handle the windfall. Instead, it was just proof that money can't buy class or intelligence.

20 posted on 12/23/2004 10:12:35 PM PST by Dont Mention the War (W2: Coming January 20, 2005! Be There!)
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