Jury awards jailed illegal immigrant $750,000 lottery ticket
A jailed illegal immigrant in Georgia is the rightful owner of a $750,000 lottery ticket, a jury decided Thursday.
The Macon Telegraph has an excellent write-up on the tale of suddenly rich but soon-to-be-deported Jose Antonio “Tony” Cua-Toc, 27, a native of Guatemala who entered the country illegally in 2000.
Cua-Toc, a day laborer in the employ of Fort Valley business owner Erick Cervantes, bought the winning Jingle Jumbo Bucks lottery ticket in November 2010. Cua-Toc said he asked Cervantes to cash in the ticket because he was in the country illegally, but Cervantes kept the money.
Cervantes claims he gave Cua-Toc $20 to buy the ticket for him, but jurors watching store video of an exultant Cua-Toc decided that was not the behavior of a man who had just won a fortune for someone else.
The verdict in the civil suit would seem to set precedent — the jury determined the owner of a lottery ticket is not who pays for it, but who actually purchases it, which has me reconsidering the AJC office pool.
Cua-Toc’s winnings after taxes total $517,500. The Houston County jury also awarded him $207,000 in attorney’s fees and $25,000 in punitive damages. He is currently jailed on a DUI charge and will likely be deported after completing his sentence.
According to Georgia law, Cua-Toc could have claimed the prize as an illegal immigrant, which would have made this story a lot less interesting.
Now, I’m off to buy a $1 Mega Millions ticket. The drawing tonight is worth $148 million, and, if I win, I can assure you I won’t be asking my boss to cash it in for me.
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109 comments Add your comment
Beans
March 9th, 2012
3:33 pm
UNO
tdavis
March 9th, 2012
3:34 pm
“He will likely be deported when he completes his sentence”????? Really, why WOULDN’T he be deported???? Get ALL the illegals OUT!
pete
March 9th, 2012
3:36 pm
the american way ???????????????/
shane
March 9th, 2012
3:41 pm
At least the state gets the tax revenue for the winnings, because none of the rest of it will probably be sent in the US.
Me
March 9th, 2012
3:42 pm
Before he’s deported we should find out how much money the American tax payers has paid for him and his family since 2000 before he’s deported and get reimbursed while the rest of us slugs keep working away to make ends meet.
wrong
March 9th, 2012
3:44 pm
Wrong on precedent – it is more likely that the jury simply disbelieved the employer’s testimony that he funded the purchase of the winning ticket.
HPUCK
March 9th, 2012
3:44 pm
This guy is illegal, the guy who hired him did it illegally, both are criminals. Our justice system has gone to the dogs. If the average American citizen broke this many laws, they would throw away the key. Our country is lost.
Don't assume
March 9th, 2012
3:46 pm
Actually, many of the immigrants, legal or not, do spend a large portion of their money here. The amount they send home is comparatively small. $10 goes a lot farther in some of these other countries than it does in the US.
doh!
March 9th, 2012
3:58 pm
God I HATE people that will do anything to make a better life for themselves and their families even if that means sneaking into another country where the people hate you and doing jobs NONE of them want to do… What is wrong with these people?!
Bob in Sandy Springs
March 9th, 2012
4:00 pm
Unfortunately, companies hire illegals as independent contractors. After the WSB or TV46 undercover news story over the summer. As a result, deductions are not made by the employer for SS, FICA, GA taxes etc. So big deal they spend 20% of their pay in the state and send 80% to their families.
The next time you are in an emergency room, take a look at the other users of services there. Medicaid sure is great when you don’t pay taxes. Take a look at our schools and the number of students that can’t speak English. They don’t pay taxes, but sure do use the services.