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
go big schtick
March 9th, 2012
5:14 pm
hey hmmm –
the deportation process is not immediate. it requires transportation, background checks and discussions with the receiving nation.
Five-year-old
March 9th, 2012
5:18 pm
Trey rhymes with Gay.
Only gays hate immigrants.
Trey hates immigrants.
Trey is gay.
Trey the gaywad.
Big Sctick
March 9th, 2012
5:19 pm
Gotta run. Got some expensive drinks and dinner and attractive ladies waiting for me.
I guess if I didn’t have so much going for me I’d be sitting around whining about illegal immigrants.
Later losers.
Big Schtick
March 9th, 2012
5:20 pm
One more thing . . . ah, never mind.
BB Gunn
March 9th, 2012
5:23 pm
I wish people would quit downing us unemployed. Not ALL OF US want to be on unemployment. When your employer comes to you and says, “today is your last day”, what do YOU DO??? You still have to eat, still have to look for work, we or I am not unemployed and getting $249.00 a week because I am lazy… WHO CAN LIVE OFF OF THAT??? I LOST MY DAMN JOB. I AM NOT A DEAD BEAT., I DON’T GET MEDICADE NOR MEDICARE…BUT BENITO do you seriously think that everyone is on unemployment because we don’t want to do certian jobs? How about if you go and look for work…see what you find. Just see…there are sooo many people over qualified and even they aren’t getting jobs. People like you piss me off.
Denise
March 9th, 2012
5:23 pm
@ GO BIG SCHTICK…you can’t even bend over to tie your own shoe. Go for a walk!!! Stop being so hateful and judgemental. Until your heart changes….your business will remain SMALL. Oh, I apoloigze, you have personally met EVERY single person in this country and you have it all figured out.
BB Gunn
March 9th, 2012
5:26 pm
BIG SCHTICK, you don’t have anywhere to go…if you did you wouldn’t be on here…what comes around goes around…don’t choke on that expensive dinner…
xenophobic a-hole
March 9th, 2012
5:30 pm
If only we were this concerned about issues that really matter, maybe something of real priority would get accomplished. Thanks for the $6 peanut butter, dickwads.
Everyone was an immigrant once, after we stole this land and all moved in.
Lazy
March 9th, 2012
5:34 pm
Big Schtick don’t choke on that expensive dinner of tube steak!
Here we go again
March 9th, 2012
5:41 pm
Any government assistance that this ILLEGAL immigrant received when he came into this country should be deducted from the $750,000.00. Why should tax payers continue to pay bills for people that are not LEGAL AMERICAN CITIZENS!!!
Enough is enough.