California lottery winner arrested

Jun 12, 2012, 10:01 am (34 comments)

California Lottery

A Linda, California, man who made headlines earlier this year when his $5 lotto scratch card turned out to be worth $2 million used some of his winnings to post bail on Sunday.

John Ross Jr. hit the jackpot in February and was arrested Sunday on suspicion of receiving stolen property, a felony, the Yuba County Sheriff's Department confirmed.

Deputies said Ross helped Skila Ann Hickman hide and fix a stolen Honda sedan.

Detectives determined that Ross played a role in assisting Hickman get the car behind a residence in the 1400 block of Dodson, Lt. Damon Gil said Monday.

"At some point, the vehicle stopped running and Ross was helping her with that, too," Gil said.

Ross, 30, still had enough cash to get out of jail quickly and posted bail a few hours after he was booked.

He could not be reached for comment.

Hickman, 21, of Hayward was still in custody Monday evening on felony suspicion of taking a vehicle without the owner's consent and a misdemeanor count of possession of burglary tools. Her bail was set at $25,000.

A patrolling Yuba County sheriff's deputy spotted the Honda around 10 a.m. Saturday and confirmed it was reported stolen out of Yuba City, Gil said.

Ironically, Ross said in March he intended to use his winnings to buy a car.

"I've never had a car. I'm 29, and I've never had a car," Ross told a local newspaper in March. "There's something wrong there."

Ross opted to take cash payments over a 20-year period and said he hoped the money would change his life for the better. "I don't have to run around the streets no more," Ross said in March.

The Linda native said he had big plans for the money and planned to take care of those close to him.

"This is my one chance to do something," he said in March. "I've got to take advantage of it and not blow it."

Ross is set to appear July 17 for arraignment in Yuba County Superior Court.

Appeal-Democrat

Comments

mcginnin56

Good lottery win, bad personal judgement. Something doesn't make sense here. He had enough money to post bail, so why risk helping someone out

by receiving stolen property? All this over a set of wheels, pretty sad.

savagegoose's avatarsavagegoose

he should move to a town where no one knows him. and STF up

RedStang's avatarRedStang

LOL moron. His first felony and it's for a Honda sedan.

Cletu$2's avatarCletu$2

Just because you are charged with a crime doesn't mean that you are guilty of that crime.There could be a logical explanation why he was helping the lady with the stolen Honda.The writer of this story could be leaving out facts that are crucial to this story just to make the story more interseting.

JoeBigLotto's avatarJoeBigLotto

Quote: Originally posted by Cletu$2 on Jun 12, 2012

Just because you are charged with a crime doesn't mean that you are guilty of that crime.There could be a logical explanation why he was helping the lady with the stolen Honda.The writer of this story could be leaving out facts that are crucial to this story just to make the story more interseting.

99.9 percent of all lottery winners do one or two stupid stuff because they think they are now invisible and above the law.like collecting food stamp and thinking the food stamp cashier at the grocery store didnt see you on tv. If it barks like a dog its probably a dog and if it smells like a chicken its probably a chicken too. lol

Cletu$2's avatarCletu$2

Quote: Originally posted by JoeBigLotto on Jun 12, 2012

99.9 percent of all lottery winners do one or two stupid stuff because they think they are now invisible and above the law.like collecting food stamp and thinking the food stamp cashier at the grocery store didnt see you on tv. If it barks like a dog its probably a dog and if it smells like a chicken its probably a chicken too. lol

Where do you get your facts from?I seriously doubt that 99.9% of ALL lottery winners "do stupid stuff because they think they are invincable".I think you have your facts backwards.I think that 99.9% of lottery winners collect their money and are never heard from again.

RJOh's avatarRJOh

Quote: Originally posted by Cletu$2 on Jun 12, 2012

Where do you get your facts from?I seriously doubt that 99.9% of ALL lottery winners "do stupid stuff because they think they are invincable".I think you have your facts backwards.I think that 99.9% of lottery winners collect their money and are never heard from again.

Where do you get your facts from?

That wasn't a fact.  He just pulled the 99.9% off the top of his head.  He probably didn't stop to think that saying 99.9% of lottery winners was almost like saying all lottery winners do stupid stuff or he might have said 9.9% instead which still wouldn't be a fact but more believable.

mcginnin56

Quote: Originally posted by RJOh on Jun 12, 2012

Where do you get your facts from?

That wasn't a fact.  He just pulled the 99.9% off the top of his head.  He probably didn't stop to think that saying 99.9% of lottery winners was almost like saying all lottery winners do stupid stuff or he might have said 9.9% instead which still wouldn't be a fact but more believable.

Maybe what he really meant to say was 99.999999999999999%       Lets give him the benefit of the doubt for Pete's sake.   Roll Eyes

maximumfun's avatarmaximumfun

There are alot of details missing... and while it is easy to fill in the blanks with "dumb" since we have read about plenty of lottery winners who have crate loads of "dumb" just sitting around... it is possible that he is not as guilty as the facts lead one to assume.

One good thing is that he took the 20 year payment option (maybe he had no choice?), cuz over those 20 years mayhap he will learn how to deal with his income jump and learn how to SUSTAIN his lifestyle after the 20 years are over (250k/yr before taxes).  He might need all 20 just to learn how to earn UP to his lottery win style!

RJOh's avatarRJOh

Quote: Originally posted by mcginnin56 on Jun 12, 2012

Maybe what he really meant to say was 99.999999999999999%       Lets give him the benefit of the doubt for Pete's sake.   Roll Eyes

When one is just making up facts or just flat out lying, to the nearest tenth of a percent is close enough.

mcginnin56

Quote: Originally posted by RJOh on Jun 12, 2012

When one is just making up facts or just flat out lying, to the nearest tenth of a percent is close enough.

Agreed! But what about if we were playing horseshoes?  Roll Eyes

JoeBigLotto's avatarJoeBigLotto

Quote: Originally posted by RJOh on Jun 12, 2012

Where do you get your facts from?

That wasn't a fact.  He just pulled the 99.9% off the top of his head.  He probably didn't stop to think that saying 99.9% of lottery winners was almost like saying all lottery winners do stupid stuff or he might have said 9.9% instead which still wouldn't be a fact but more believable.

Well am a maths genius and my facts are really from my maths calculations. You see playing the lottery is stupid so if you are 100 percent perfect most likely you won't be playing the lottery or need to play one. And if you decide to play the lottery that is .1111111 percent stupid right there. i do play the lottery and even though i may be claiming charity as my excuse but i do have some stupid fantasy that i really don't want to talk about like buying a private island in the bahamas and me being the only man allowed to be in that paradise it's stupid but all lottery players has one stupid issue just waiting to explode like a volcano just because all of you here don't want to admit it but once you win the lottery the first thing that happens to your brian is that it produces lots of chemicals that turn you into a bigger stupid spending demon and all your game plan now goes to the trash until you broke again so no escape for any lottery winner you can hide all you want but you can't escape your shadow demon. lol

AmoWin

What it is brah?

Wha you haffa do that, after yo win?  You 'bouts had it made.  Getcho seff a house, a nice caw, and in California.

Don'ts know no one off that good.

Shoo'  you getcho seof a who' night cluub and just drink all day.

When you goes to cwort, you teo' the judge the who' troof now.

Epistrophy's avatarEpistrophy

Quote: Originally posted by JoeBigLotto on Jun 12, 2012

Well am a maths genius and my facts are really from my maths calculations. You see playing the lottery is stupid so if you are 100 percent perfect most likely you won't be playing the lottery or need to play one. And if you decide to play the lottery that is .1111111 percent stupid right there. i do play the lottery and even though i may be claiming charity as my excuse but i do have some stupid fantasy that i really don't want to talk about like buying a private island in the bahamas and me being the only man allowed to be in that paradise it's stupid but all lottery players has one stupid issue just waiting to explode like a volcano just because all of you here don't want to admit it but once you win the lottery the first thing that happens to your brian is that it produces lots of chemicals that turn you into a bigger stupid spending demon and all your game plan now goes to the trash until you broke again so no escape for any lottery winner you can hide all you want but you can't escape your shadow demon. lol

That's a pretty grim view of humanity.

I agree that someone's demons will likely follow them after a lotto win, so someone that is insufferable and wallows in misery as a routine course of action may very well do that after winning big, only with more money in the equation.

But it's just as likely that a lotto win would help someone snap out of it and enjoy life while it's there.

And I think that it's even more likely that most people would not automatically implode after winning.  If you consider all of the thousands (or probably tens of thousands) of winners over the past few decades, even put together, all of the Jack Whitaker's of the world do not actually amount to a large number. 

A hundred idiots for every thousand winners.

I'm starting to think that RJ actually nailed it with 9.9% - nice call on that!

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