Viral video of woman leaving the store that sold the winning ticket shows her in tears, but are they fake?
Includes video report
By Kate Northrop
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — After a video surfaced of woman claiming she won the $1.08 billion Powerball jackpot drawn last week, some accused her of lying to garner attention.
The day after the California Lottery announced that the lone winning ticket for the $1.08 billion Powerball jackpot was purchased at a retailer in Los Angeles, an unidentified woman was captured on video in hysterics while claiming that she was the winner.
"I'm so scared right now... God bless you" she explained as she sobbed with joy and hugged people in the store.
She then ran out of the building and away from the crowd of reporters, hopping into a black BMW and driving off.
However, the Lottery has yet to confirm a winner through their vetting process, and the store owner of Las Palmitas Mini Market in downtown Los Angeles said he does not recognize the woman and does not remember selling a ticket to her. Nabor Herrera, 52, works at the store every day and "knows" his customers.
"I think it's fake," he told a reporter from Inside Edition when shown the video footage of the woman celebrating inside the retailer.
Herrera's granddaughter, Sarai Palacios, is positive the woman is faking it all for attention.
"She didn't win — I'm not sure why she did that," she told DailyMail.com. "I guess she just wanted to be on TV. We don't know who the winner is yet. They still haven't come forward."
Angelica Menjivar, Herrera's daughter, says the woman in the video could be telling the truth. According to Menjivar, the unidentified woman is actually the daughter of the mother who bought the winning ticket and that she would be coming forward that same day.
The California Lottery has yet to formally announce the winner and said it would be impossible to confirm it on the spot without stepping through their rigorous verification process.
"There would be no way for us to verify today in a formal process that would vet any person, so anybody who claims to be the winner isn't valid until we say it is," Lottery spokesperson Carolyn Becker told the press in front of the store while presenting a $1 million check to the retailer for selling the ticket.
It might be a while before the winner is officially announced. It took officials three months to verify Edwin Castro as the winner of the $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot.
Altadena resident Jose Rivera later sued Castro, claiming that the winning ticket was stolen from him. He has since lost two of his lawyers in one week after they filed to leave the case on July 12, according to court documents.
The California Lottery maintains that they are confident Castro is the rightful winner.
VIDEO: Watch the report
Shame on the media. I couldn't believe CBS et al wasted their time showing her.
How about showing the winning ticket like she was asked to?
She wanted her 15' of fame and she got it....we'll know within just under a year.
Sometimes ya just need a hug.
* The article said she was " bawling." At first blush what were people supposed to believe? There are many convincing liars out there & she won't be the last.
This $1.08 Billion Lottery Winner Drama will continue until someone comes forward and is annouced by the CA Lottery as the Winner.
It ain't official until it's "official".
I have read numerous articles on what to do and not do when you happen to win the lottery.
One advice that cuts across all of them is -
Be quiet, be quiet, be quiet about the winning.
If indeed she is the winner, she broke the Cardinal Rule on winning the lottery.
But again, to each their own.
If I won the lottery, I wouldn't even tell myself that I won.
I would ask myself "Did you win the lottery?"
Then I would respond "What are you talking about?" Or better still "What lottery?"
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Maybe she's the winner and we now know she's stupid, or maybe she was just looking for attention. In somewhat related news, 6 million videos were posted to TikTok today.
We will find out sooner than later!
Do anyone remember about 10 years ago the news story about a big jackpot. The next day a guy goes into the gas station where the winning ticket was sold and use the scanner and started acting hysterical like he won? We later found out he was not the winner. If you know the story. Can you please post the link here?
"Some accused her of lying to garner attention." And it worked. G5
I knew she was lying. She has a long ways to go to match the mega lie told by Mirlande in 2012. She claimed she hid the ticket at McDonald's. Then her attorney dropped her when he found out she was a nut.
Still my all time fave lp story.
Off subject so I apologize. On Ellen years ago the couple from TN that split a huge jackpot with FL & CA (?) actually showed the ticket on her show. Stupid IMHO; wonder what ever happened to them.