ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The winner of the $500,000 Alaska lottery to benefit a nonprofit that aids victims of sexual abuse is himself a convicted sex offender.
Alec Ahsoak, 53, came forward to claim his winnings on Saturday, said lottery organizer Abe Spicola, who owns Lucky Times Pull Tabs in Anchorage.
"He said he was going to buy a house and said he was going to donate part of it to God, and you know charity," Spicola said.
Specifically, Ahsoak said he planned to give $100,000 of the jackpot to Standing Together Against Rape, which paired up with Lucky Times to conduct the lottery, Spicola said.
Ahsoak was convicted of two counts of sexual abuse of a minor in 1993, and once again in 2000, according to the state's sex offender registry and first reported Saturday evening by KTUU, Channel 2.
Promoters billed the jackpot as the largest in state history. They drew the winning ticket Friday night, but the winner remained a mystery.
Saturday afternoon, a KTUU news crew stopped by the Lucky Times pull tab parlor to follow up on the story. The business was closed, said KTUU anchor Jill Burke.
But, she said, "As we were there, a man flagged us down and said, 'Hey, I think I'm the winner.' "
It was Ahsoak, who showed the station his winning ticket. Later, the station received an e-mail — Burke declined to say who sent it — noting that Ahsoak was listed as a sex offender.
Ahsoak told the station that he's worked hard to turn his life around, has been in treatment for the past year and wanted to use part of his winnings to help others, KTUU reported. He told the station he was raised in foster homes and at the Jesse Lee Home for Children in Seward.
Spicola said he called Ahsoak when he heard about his "checkered past" and said that if he was going to donate to a charity, he should consider STAR.
In that phone conversation, Ahsoak talked about donating $50,000 to STAR, then upped the number to $100,000, Spicola said.
"He said that God would want him to do that," Spicola said.
Becky Beck, of Anchorage, serves on the STAR board.
"What I hope doesn't happen is the results negatively flavor the intention of the lottery," Beck said.
"We struggle so hard to raise funds to do the work, to do STAR's mission. Our goal was to raise funds so that we could better assist those victims of sexual assault."
Another board member, former Anchorage state Rep. Eric Croft, learned of the lottery winner's legal history Saturday night.
"I think what it highlights is how prevalent this crime is," he said. "And we don't mind taking money from anybody to help victims of sexual assault, and we hope that he'll follow through on his commitment to give some of it back."
It was unclear Saturday exactly how much STAR's share of the lottery would be, Spicola said.
Spicola has estimated ticket sales approached 150,000 at $5 each. Lotteries and raffles can only be held in Alaska for charity, and STAR must get at least 10 percent of what's left after the prize is paid.
Ahsoak received $350,000 rather than $500,000 because organizers must withhold federal taxes, Spicola said.
Organizers plan to start selling tickets for the next lottery — to be held in July — later this month. The payout for that drawing is expected to be $250,000 to $500,000, Spicola said.
Alec Ahsoak collected his $500,000 winnings Saturday at Lucky Times Pull Tabs.
Ahsoak has three convictions for sexual abuse of a minor 2 on his record.
Gongrats to the lucky winner! Plus he is helping those less fortunate than him. I'm glad he is turning his life around. Way to go!
Whao, very good idea didn't even know such a thing existed...But at the rate the world is going psychologically more people will become raped victims without even knowing it...I believe such lottery should exist, but the thing is the real hardcore rape cases will be flooded by victims that are not telling the truth, or may just had been kissed in the butt or who knows what and the real victims will not win....
I am assuming you are telling me that raped people are the winners of the jackpot...I didn't read the whole thing dont have time to read all that...
Not saying they shouldn't have a lottery that cators to raped victims but if they are going to have that they should also have lotteries catored to disabled people and i mean real disabled people [like the people that participate on paraolympics] and they should also have a lottery catored to battered wives, because one of these [disabled people] are more severe than sexually assaulted and the other is also as bad as been raped...And there are more stuff to add too....
correct about the train...
i don't have nothing against raped victims but i just want to show the weigh of who suffers more...Suppose a guy whoever took a women and had sex with her, is wrong and he should go to jail...But what about the people that pick up thrash have no teeth, are homeless, etc...Who suffers more? they both suffer equally just that in this world they'll take care of the raped victim and i bet if she was homeless she will get a house, but what about those people that don't get nothing that live in the slums [didn't say gethoe i said slums]....And living in the slums last decades and decades....and the raped victim don't act like is the end of the world for christ out loud you are a women...What about the countless women out there that cross the sahara and have no teeth...all i am saying if you are going to take care of one problem you should take care of the other too...
You obviously don't have children or have never been a victim of rape. This man can NEVER turn his life around. He's been convicted 3 times of sexual abuse of a minor. That's 2 times too much. He should have been exterminated the first time he took a child's innocence away. John Couey, who raped & buried little Jessica Lunsford alive clutching onto her teddy bear, had also turned his life around after committing child abuse. People like this do not change. They are wired wrong.
One thing is for sure: it demonstrated that the drawing was truly random.
But what about the people that pick up thrash have no teeth, are homeless, etc...Who suffers more? they both suffer equally just that in this world they'll take care of the raped victim
You are saying that people who work for Waste Management companies are equal to women who have been raped. You are unbelievable.
not pick up thrash i am talking about people that pick up cans...Anyways you wouldn't understand...
the only thing to me equaled to picking up cans on the streets and homeless is prostitution and even so prostitution is doubtful...
Also that's one flaw with the lottery is TOO RANDOM and it can't read hearts and know who suffer the most and make them a winner...It will not repay but is meant as console...[isn't that what they do nowadays anyways]....
suppose a guy went out there and raped a women, what does he get? the death penalty...You wait 10 more years and go to that same women and offer her 100 million dollars as a total stranger to sleep with her and she will say yes [some will say no because not everyone is the same but just to proove a point]...Anyone will say yes to 100 million dollars including males...
anyways i don't want to continue talking about this, i am suppose to be talking about lottery...
Anyways, more important than this is that NASA gets a 10 trillion or 15 trillion or 20 trillion dollar budget each year...The cure to the world's diseases...And that a guy pay instead of child support pays a monthly payment until the kid turns 18 and is put in some kind of fund so that the kids when he/she is 18 or 21 is taken cared for life [as it is in my blog] sorry it sounds to crazy but that's what i believe...[daddy holding his little girl's hand]...If you are so concern this will cause less prostitution, it will not just cause less prostitution but it will almost totally eliminate prostitution from the streets...Again since you are so concern...
that's it i am not talking more about this subject...
I have to agree with you according to the stats most sex offenders repeat and repeat. Now if he was to get chemically/physically castrated then I'll believe him. I also believe once is one too many. Castrate them all.
I don't understand why child molesters aren't put away for life for their first offense.They always re-offend.I know a guy that molested a child in the early 60's and was sent to prison.He got out and molested another child in the late 70's and was sent back to prison.He got out again and molested his own son in the mid-90's.This time they sent him away for so long that he'll be way over 100 years old if he lives long enough to get out.At least two children might have had a normal childhood if they had just locked him up and threw away the key back in the sixties.
Having said that,I hope this Alaskan pervert chokes on his winnings!
Wrong. The annual budget for NASA is miniscule comparing to entire budget for the US government.
Castration actually won't help him or anyone like him stop their behavior. These types of people really are wired wrong in their brain. They would be better serviced by a neurologist than a sharp knife and some lye. Now, poor wiring is certainly no excuse for his behavior because 99.99% of these people know they are doing the wrong thing...all I'm saying is castration won't help him and he's more likely than not, going to repeat his past behavior...which unfortunately isn't as random as the lottery he won.
Yep.