ERIN, Tenn. — Mike West gets weekly deliveries to his home in Erin. Wednesday morning when he opened a box he was surprised to find thousands of dollars of Tennessee Lottery scratch off tickets.
They package of tickets sat on top of several other items inside a large box that was left on his doorstep.
"I thought this here must be my games, I got some X Box games," West explained.
But when he opened the plastic envelope he discovered the lottery tickets inside.
"I just started seeing game after game. It's literally millions of dollars in games, " West said.
At first, West could not believe what he found inside the box.
"My reaction was, I hit the lottery," West said while laughing. "But then again, I know this wasn't mine, I know it ain't mine," he admitted.
West had a theory of how the tickets wound up in his possession. The packing tape on top of that box was not very secure.
"So they set that down there and being as heavy as it was, it went down in there," according to West.
West admitted to the excitement he felt when he first discovered the tickets.
"Temptation was there. I mean who ain't got that kind of temptation. It was in my lap, it was addressed to me," he said.
The package was actually addressed to a Sudden Service store on Riverside Drive in Clarksville.
When a spokesperson from the Tennessee Lottery learned of this mistaken delivery she made it known the tickets are not valid until a lottery retailer activated them.
West worked to find a way to return the tickets to the Tennessee Lottery.
"I want it to get back where it was suppose to and do the job it's supposed to, put some kids in college," West said.
A spokesman for UPS, the company that delivered the package to West, said the company was not yet made aware of a mistakenly delivered package.
Two representatives from the Tennessee Lottery traveled to Erin Wednesday night and picked up the tickets from West.
Would been nice if the Tennesse Lottery would have offered him a few freebee tickets for his good deed.
This is such a refreshing read after so many stories of dishonesty. Whether they were valid or not he likely did not know, but you can see in his words that he is a man of prinicple even in the face of such great temptations. He was thinking about the education of our youth now that's admirable!
You never know who's watching.
Temptation was there but he refused it instead...What a great person! If Tennessee Lottery officials were not kind enough to give him rewards for his good deed, then maybe there will come a time that his good deeds will be returned...and I will be the first person to be happy for him...
The temptation might have been there, but any idiot would have to think that they are traceable and obviously wouldn't be valid anyway and he would probably get into even more trouble for tampering with stolen property or something. Now if he was accidentally shipped $1M in cash and turned that in, then I would say he was a standup guy!! Or a nut, not sure which...
"So they set that down there and being as heavy as it was, it went down in there," according to West.
Is this how they talk in Tennessee???
But this guy is not just "any Idiot"............
Since when does doing the right thing need some special reward?? Its supposed to be a natural part of life for people who are not low down, evil greedy rich ilk......
If Obama does the RIGHT THING and resign, I would give him a "special reward" (a round of applause and a few boxes).
He is more likely to become a permanent dictator than resign............
Nice to see some honesty, He may have tempted but good prevailed.
It was good of this careful man to notify of the mis-delivery!
I wonder why if this misdelivered box had the store's correct address on it that this man didn't simply first contact the store manager and arrange their pick-up at his home?
He had mentioned the seal on the box looked loose and possibly tampered with.
Probably he wanted to return to the Lottery Commission in case items were missing, didn't want to be blamed by the management of the store
they were addressed to of theft. IMHO.
Good man for doing the right thing
The tickets were worthless to him. He could have just thrown them in the trash and saved himself the trouble of returning them?
He wasn't aware they were worthless, until after talking to the Tennessee Lottery.
I think most average people would have assumed these tickets were "live" and ready to be scratched and won off.
Out of 1000 people, wonder how many would have reacted the same way this gentleman did.
In that case, he could have put on a baseball cap and cashed as many as he could before they were reported missing.
They had to be scanned in first by the purchasing store to be valid.
Although the baseball cap (Red Sox), would have looked very good on him.
Right, I was thinking San Fran Giants.........
Well the box was rernt, leastways I can tell.
Looks like rgdrnr isn't the only honest man in Tennessee. Raise a glass!
But has conscience would have probably bothered him.
I would have done the same thing. Tepmtation would make me hesitate, but prison time would fix that.
This sounds like the movie " Next Day Air" and l don't think this guy will find this funny when the real owners of the real package come knocking lol
I wonder what he would of done if that mis-delivered box was marked "Gamestop".
When a spokesperson from the Tennessee Lottery learned of this mistaken delivery she made it known the tickets are not valid until a lottery retailer activated them.
That was the first thing that ran through my mind when I read the headline... that they wouldn't even be worth anything to him. I'm sure he's glad he did the right thing, as trying to turn them in would likely have caused some problems for him.
Thanks, mcginnin56, this makes sense.
It was good that he was a kind enough soul as to not throw the large amount of tickets away.
You did the right thing Mr. West.....
Of course being unscanned they were worthless, although might have been some million dollar winners in there had he thrown them out.
Even if he did scratch them off he wouldnt have to worry,theres nothing on em...Blank colorful pictures.SOOOOO pretty.