Three men charged with stealing $1M from lottery winner

Feb 27, 2008, 7:50 am (30 comments)

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North Branford, Connecticut, police have arrested three men for allegedly stealing $1 million in cash from a man who hit the lottery more than 20 years ago.

Police say the North Branford resident kept his winnings in a home safe.

Police say two of the three East Haven men arrested are the grandson and son-in-law of the alleged victim.

The money was apparently taken during two thefts in November but the victim, not identified by police, didn't notice the money was missing from his safe until Jan. 15.

Those charged are 18-year-old Raffaele Iuliano Jr., 44-year-old Raffaele Iuliano Sr. and 24-year-old Joseph Bernardo.

Police say they have recovered about $219,000.

AP

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ThatScaryChick's avatarThatScaryChick

He kept a million dollars in a safe in his home? Eek I don't think I would keep that much money in my home unless I had excellent security.

jeffrey's avatarjeffrey

Who needs enemies when you have family and friends......What?

colthmn's avatarcolthmn

Quote: Originally posted by jeffrey on Feb 27, 2008

Who needs enemies when you have family and friends......What?

Unfortunately, how very true.

JackpotWanna's avatarJackpotWanna

"The money was apparently taken during two thefts in November but the victim, not identified by police, didn't notice the money was missing from his safe until Jan. 15."

 

How much money did he have in there!!

 

Grandsons and son inlaw? - WOW Why?????????? Cut from will?

whitmansm2's avatarwhitmansm2

If he had the mentality of basically sticking the money under the mattress....I'm seriously doubting he thought about writing a will.  I sure hope he did and plans on taking them out of it.

 

Sad.

time*treat's avatartime*treat

Quote: Originally posted by jeffrey on Feb 27, 2008

Who needs enemies when you have family and friends......What?

... and the media.

Littleoldlady's avatarLittleoldlady

By keeping that money in his house, he should be charged with contributing to their downfall much like when you have an accident and are not wearing your seatbelt you can be charged....  that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard of.  Let him try in my neighborhood..Now that dummy will have to stay AWAKE wondering who is going to come after him now that they know he has the money IN HIS HOUSE!!!

whitmansm2's avatarwhitmansm2

Quote: Originally posted by Littleoldlady on Feb 27, 2008

By keeping that money in his house, he should be charged with contributing to their downfall much like when you have an accident and are not wearing your seatbelt you can be charged....  that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard of.  Let him try in my neighborhood..Now that dummy will have to stay AWAKE wondering who is going to come after him now that they know he has the money IN HIS HOUSE!!!

And not to mention all the money he was losing by not investing it.  Think of all that interest he could have been receiving!  AUUGGHHH!

 

Bash

lottocalgal's avatarlottocalgal

Yeah, That's why no one in my family will know if I can help it.   Blind Trust.  I will do something for them but in such small increments that it wouldn't raise suspicions.  I will simply tell them that I won on a scratcher or something and let them ask for the
$5 or $10 k that I will gladly cough up in small pieces.  My famliy woulDn't knock me in the head or anything  But I will not have ANY peace.

TRY AND FIND ME!

LuckyLilly's avatarLuckyLilly

Quote: Originally posted by Littleoldlady on Feb 27, 2008

By keeping that money in his house, he should be charged with contributing to their downfall much like when you have an accident and are not wearing your seatbelt you can be charged....  that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard of.  Let him try in my neighborhood..Now that dummy will have to stay AWAKE wondering who is going to come after him now that they know he has the money IN HIS HOUSE!!!

I keep re-reading this to find the sarcasm, but I'm failing to see it.  Surely you don't really think we should blame the victim?  It seems like the last statistics said Nissans and Toyotas were the most-stolen cars in America.  So when one gets stolen should we blame the owner for having it?  Cuz if they'd been driving a Ford Pinto no way would it have been stolen.  Or charge the rape victim with a crime because she was walking in "that" part of town?  Pure nonsense!

TheGameGrl's avatarTheGameGrl

I stopped re-reading and can validate that the persons *opinion* is narrow minded and lacking common sense. 

Temptation to steal isnt any less prevalant whether the product is in sight or out of sight.  It just makes it more challenging to get!

I  can understand anyone wanting to keep their funds in close proximity. THe Bank industry only guarantees 250K of it be insured. So if they lose 750k of it from your account, ohh well, that interest compounding wont mean a thing. So the guy did the right thing by getting a safe.  And the police are doing the right thing by taking the matter serious enough to charge the men.

 A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Nothing wrong with the guy retaining what is his money.

Littleoldlady's avatarLittleoldlady

I was not really being sarcastic, I was being truthful.  He kept his money in his house (which is his perogative even though I think it is stupid).  So only the ones CLOSE to him (his relatives KNEW he had it consequently, they robbed him.  He provided a "temptation" that they couldn't overcome.  I am not saying that stealing is to be condoned at any time.  I am just saying that he contributed to his own robbery.  There used a thing called "common sense".  Seems like to me it is in very short supply now. 

Coin Toss's avatarCoin Toss

Quote: Originally posted by ThatScaryChick on Feb 27, 2008

He kept a million dollars in a safe in his home? Eek I don't think I would keep that much money in my home unless I had excellent security.

Agreed - and had the safe booby-trapped.

mken32's avatarmken32

wow 1,000,000 in safe at home a small bank dont keep that much there safe over night they let federal reserve lock it up. 

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