The lottery winner and his girlfriend were arrested just four days after he and his mother Linda won the largest jacket prize in Kentucky’s history
A Kentucky man, who scooped a whopping $167.3 (roughly £126 million) Powerball jackpot found himself behind bars just days later. The ticket, which cost only $2, is said to be the largest lottery prize in Kentucky’s history.
James Farthing purchased the ticket for his mother, Linda Grizzle, and they jointly collected the prize, posing for photos with the cheque. On April 28, Linda told the Kentucky Lottery that “it’s going to be a good Mother’s Day” and revealed plans to pay off her debts.
She admitted she “would have never dreamed” of winning and said the news “hasn’t sunken in yet”. However, just days after their win, 50-year-old James was arrested following an alleged altercation at a Florida hotel.
According to an arrest document, he reportedly punched another hotel guest during a dispute. When an officer tried to intervene, James allegedly kicked him in the face.
Both Farthing and his partner, Jaqueline Fightmaster, 42, were arrested, with the latter charged with disorderly intoxication. FOX 13 in Tampa reports that he remains in custody due to a parole violation from a separate previous incident, while Jacqueline was released the next day.
Last year, a Brazilian cattle farmer named Antonio Lopes Siqueira won $32million (roughly £24m) from a lottery ticket costing less than a dollar, only to die just weeks later.
Antonio struck gold with a lucky dip in the Mega-Sena draw on November 9th, hitting all the right numbers for a life-changing win. With odds stacked against him at 50 million to one, his combination of 13, 15, 33, 43, 46 and 55 landed him in the top ten biggest cash triumphs in Brazil’s history.
However, the newfound millionaire’s joy was short-lived. After splashing some of his prize on dental surgery, Antonio, who battled diabetes and hypertension, tragically met his end on the operating table due to a cardiac arrest.
Despite medics’ several attempts to resuscitate him, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Edison Pick, the local law enforcement leader, said in December that the circumstances of his death – whether by natural causes or not – remain uncertain. “It has not yet been determined whether the cause of death was natural or induced,” he said in a statement.
“If it was a sudden illness, the clinic will not be held responsible. We are waiting for the results of the autopsy to clarify the facts.” No further update has been released as of yet.
Following his death, Antonio was buried in Jaciara, which is roughly 88.75 miles (142km) away from where he was born, in Cuiabá.