Another Powerball winner in troublePrev TopicNext Topic

• petergrfn

  

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  November 16, 2005
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  Dec 3, 2005, 2:04 pm

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  State probe, drug arrest trip up Powerball winner

  Saturday, December 03, 2005

  In a tiny Kentucky town four years ago, a down-on-his-luck ex-convict named David Edwards stepped into a gas station and plunked down a few dollars for a handful of Powerball lottery tickets.

  Days later, he was $27 million richer and full of grand plans. He married a woman 20 years younger, resolved to abandon his hard-luck-and-handcuffs days and bought, among other things, a $1.2 million home in a gated Palm Beach Gardens neighborhood.

  AP file enlarge David Edwards talks to well-wishers in 2001 in front of the Westwood, Ky., store where he bought one of the four winning Powerball tickets. More crime coverage • Post crime blog • PBC wanted fugitives • Live police/fire scanners • Booking log, sex offenders Sound off: Your views More local news Latest breaking news, photos and all of today's Post stories. • State news Storm 2005: Hurricane news • Sound off in the forum • Columnists • Crime, live scanners • Photos | Special reports • Weather | Traffic | Obituaries

  "I'd starve to death underneath a bridge before I'd do anything illegal," Edwards told a reporter in late 2001.

  He lived it up with fast cars, private planes and charitable giveaways. Earlier this year, he showed off his new home on a Learning Channel special: Lottery Homes.

  But a host of recent troubles for Edwards — drugs, arrest, a child-welfare investigation — have underscored a stubborn truth for many who stumble on quick money: It's easier to escape the troubled places than to leave behind the troubled past.

  Edwards, 50, and his 30-year-old wife, Shawna, were arrested last month at their home in the upscale Ballen Isles community after Palm Beach Gardens police found cocaine and heroin in their bedroom.

  Officers had been called to the house because the state Department of Children and Families was conducting a child-abuse investigation. It was unclear what prompted the investigation.

  Inside the house, officers found the Edwardses' bedroom full of syringes and needles, in addition to a small tin containing cocaine and heroin, according to a police report.

  The Edwardses were raising two children in the house. Police notified DCF that the children were not in school and that there were drugs in a bedroom.

  DCF said it would continue to investigate, according to the report. Neither parent has been charged with any crimes against the children.

  The couple were booked into the Palm Beach County Jail Nov. 8 on charges of possessing cocaine and narcotic equipment. They were both out again by the next day.

  It was the most ordinary of arrests in the most lavish of settings. For Edwards, who could not be reached for comment for this story, it was a throwback to his pre-Powerball days, when he was in and out of prison and living on the margins in Ashland, Ky.

  Edwards never finished high school and got into a shootout with police as a teen. He divorced two women and served a series of prison stints — first for holding up a gas station in his hometown and then for violating parole.

  Affable and slick-talking, he spent some of his life working for a paycheck. Other times, he didn't work at all.

  When the big win came in August 2001, Edwards had been laid off as a fiber-optic installer. With his winnings he bought the house in Palm Beach Gardens and a fleet of sports cars — a Bentley, a Ferrari, a Lamborghini Diablo.

  He also gave back. Checks for thousands of dollars were written for good causes in Kentucky: the Boys Club, the volunteer fire department, the elementary school.

  "I've known David for years and years," said Ethel Maddux, Shawna Edwards' mother. "He's changed. Both of them have changed a lot."

  She meant it mostly in a good way, citing the donations Edwards gave out. Terminally ill and living alone, Maddux said it is Edwards' money that pays for her wheelchair and her home in Ashland.

  She knew that David and Shawna had occasional marital problems. In 2004, Shawna Edwards was arrested on a charge of domestic battery.

  She did not know that in 2003, David had hired prominent attorney John Christiansen and filed for divorce.

  The divorce is still pending, but the couple, from all appearances, are back together
• bellyache

  

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  Dec 3, 2005, 2:14 pm

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  I remember seeing David Edwards on that lottery program. I guess winning a bunch of money doesn't change ones behavior.
• Clairvoyance

  

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  Dec 3, 2005, 2:16 pm

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  David Edwards Rings a Bell

  Oh my Goodness, that looks like the same guy that was on the Lottery Winners TV show I watched last Month on Cable TV! Yes, I sure does! I think it is HIM! LOL
• fxsterling

  

  BILOXI, MISSISSIPPI
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  Dec 3, 2005, 2:44 pm

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  i saw the show  he looked like he didn't fit in also he had 5 shots in that afternoon drink
• sirbrad

  

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  Dec 3, 2005, 3:57 pm

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  Yes I posted about the show being on awhile back. Further proof that the lotterty does not change old habits for most, it only encourages more indulgence in them. Good or bad.
• Editgap

  

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  Dec 3, 2005, 6:29 pm

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  I saw him on a TLC show about overnight jackpot millionaires or something. He was a slick talker and very believeable. He sounded like a really changed man. He talked about his charity work 9-11 disaster, and sounded geniunely good hearted. I am disappointed to hear this sad story.

  Not that I don't believe alot of people a hooked on drugs. But on the other side, I wonder what lenght some people could go to frame others out of jealousy. You just never know. Especially while they would be investigating neglect on childeren of a filt rich millionaire.

  I can't believe this story is a month old and I never heard of it. 
• sirbrad

  

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  Dec 3, 2005, 9:53 pm

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  Also true to never believe everything you read.
• TheGameGrl

  

  A long and winding road
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  Dec 4, 2005, 9:31 am

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  Woah..  is all I can say ..or think! I saw the tv program , and indeed this guy lived the charmed life. Statues of the blues brothers in his back yard. He *seemed* relatively together in his thoughts and conveyance when interviewed. I do hope he gets some rehabilitative help. It would be the best investment he can make. Ones health is sooo important.

  Count your smiles.