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
ld
March 9th, 2012
11:33 pm
it should occur the judge that he can now afford to pay a fine in lieu of his sentence
Laugh@losers
March 10th, 2012
1:15 am
Wow I am surprise with how many losers n haters inthe state of Georgia. Hey don’t be mad just because you are not the winner. Remember what your God teaches u? How irony, with all this holy rollers in here.
me
March 10th, 2012
1:17 am
laugh – there is no god so keep him out of it
FU Big Schtick
March 10th, 2012
2:47 am
Yeah we were born here and we pay taxes here. If the illegal idiot wants to pay back taxes for the whole time he was here and then go through the process of getting legal citizenship, then more power to him. He is more than welcome to do the jobs that nobody else wants to do. This country is called the melting pot for a reason, everyone is welcome legally. So you can jump back on whatever boat you came from and GTFO of this country if you don’t like the laws!
Larry
March 10th, 2012
4:25 am
Attention Unemployed Americans: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08qq3087OUQ&feature=player_embedded
BBro
March 10th, 2012
6:47 am
It’s not the ones that enter into this country illegally that most Americans are upset with it’s the ones that come in illegally that doesn’t pay taxes but then the huge problem is the ones that suck our welfare system dry with democrats approval. There needs to be an employement center setup at the U.S. – Mexico border and when there’s a need for labor they issue the company in need however many labors they need. Say the labor work pay $10 an hour the employment angency charges $12 perhour and the $2 extra per hour goes back into supporting the employment center and the Mexican workers can go back n fourth to Mexico on work visas without the worry of jail, etc. Our lame headed government rather sue our own U.S. states rather than coming up with a solution to the problem and paying out BILLIONS for illegal health care, welfare and the over 50% in our prison system.
Prissy Fezzik
March 10th, 2012
7:32 am
wrong, whether they meant to or not, the jury DID set a precedent.
3d
March 10th, 2012
7:47 am
doh, that is just a tired weak argument that illegals are doing jobs that no one else wants.
If they weren’t here, then business would be forced to pay competitive wages to attract workers that will do the work. stop making excuses for illegal activity
btw, no one hates them; we just want law abiding citizens in our country, that’s all
if we hated them, don’t you think we’d be turning them into immigration officials left and right
this country has been very accommodating to say the least think about it
RIC
March 10th, 2012
8:01 am
hey people dont be so envy… the fact is that this guy is more rich than all of you can be on your earth life!
wang fu dong
March 10th, 2012
8:03 am
may you have4 good luck for3ver