DALLAS, Tx. — Willis Willis may have had the winning lottery ticket, but it was the convenience store clerk who had his number.
As authorities tell it, years of playing the Texas lottery finally paid off for the Grand Prairie man in May when he walked into the Lucky Food Store with a million-dollar ticket.
But in a double twist of tortured fortune, an opportunistic clerk may have cheated him out of his ticket and his treasure.
Now, while Willis waits to be a millionaire, police are searching for the accused fraudster, who might be half a world away.
Until he disappeared this summer — shortly before police seized his bank account — Pankaj Joshi was a trusted clerk at the Lucky Food Store in Grand Prairie.
"He was an OK guy," said Masudur Rahman, who worked with the 25-year-old University of Texas-Arlington student for four years. "We never doubted him."
Neither did the 67-year-old Willis, who regularly cashed his checks and bought his lottery tickets at the convenience store.
Willis, a maintenance man and father of four, chose his numbers based on family birthdays and played the same slip until it could "no longer be read by the terminal," according to a police affidavit.
"He's a guy living day to day," said his lawyer, Randy Howry, who met with Willis on Wednesday in Austin.
The Lucky Food Store finally earned its name for Willis on May 29, when he spent $20 from a $238 check on three lottery tickets.
Investigators said a Mega Millions ticket from that purchase won big at a drawing a few hours later, though Willis wouldn't know it for months.
In hindsight, Willis may have missed several opportunities to prevent the ensuing debacle.
He never saw the drawing on TV, he later told investigators, because he didn't know how to find it.
He might have read about the winning numbers but he recently stopped buying the newspaper.
Willis wasn't in the habit of signing his tickets — a simple safeguard that would have made any attempt to defraud him of his winnings "difficult, if not impossible," according to a spokesman for the Texas Lottery Commission in Austin, Texas, where the case is being prosecuted.
Lucky Food Store even has an automatic ticket checker. But after four years as a customer, Willis trusted the clerks to check.
"He couldn't believe that (Joshi) would do something," Rahman said. "He knew him as well as he knew me."
The day after the drawing, when Rahman told Joshi that their store had sold a million-dollar ticket, the clerk laughed and seemed as surprised as everyone else, Rahman said.
But by the time Willis walked in the next day, police said, Joshi had hatched the most dastardly of get-rich-quick schemes.
As he always did, Willis handed the clerk his tickets, and Joshi dutifully handed him back a $2 prize for one of them.
The clerk, according to the affidavit, neglected to mention that another ticket was worth $1 million.
Willis might never have learned of his would-be fortune's misfortune if Joshi's coworkers hadn't sleuthed it out.
Rahman said he and the Lucky Food Store manager got suspicious when Joshi turned in his notice two weeks after the drawing — saying he was moving back to Nepal to help his cousin with her perfume store.
Alarm bells rang when the men learned that Joshi had claimed the prize from a lottery center in Austin, Texas. In four years, they said, they had never seen him buy a lottery ticket.
The men tried to call Joshi to confront him, Rahman said, but he wouldn't pick up the phone.
At the end of July, two months after the drawing, the Lucky Store manager tipped off the Texas Lottery Commission.
A commission investigator visited the store and, after poring over receipts, determined Willis had bought the winning ticket.
When the investigator called the almost-millionaire, Willis said he hadn't suspected a thing.
After securing search warrants, Austin police raided four of Joshi's suddenly swelling bank accounts in September. The Travis County district attorney's office said it has so far seized $365,000 of the $750,000 the clerk was awarded. (The IRS, which wins no matter what, got a quarter of the prize.)
Last month, a grand jury indicted Joshi with claiming a lottery prize by fraud. Because of the eye-popping dollar figure, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
But the clerk seems to be long gone. Howry said he fears he's high-tailed it to Asia with the bulk of his client's cash.
As for Willis?
After being jilted by Lady Luck, he's frustrated, but not angry and is hoping to recover whatever he can, Howry said.
"He knows (some of) the money's been collected," he said. "He knows he has to jump through hoops to claim it. He's been amazingly patient with the whole process."
And amazingly optimistic, too.
As he has done for years, Howry said, Willis continues to play the lottery.
Just not at the Lucky Food Store.
Well I'm glad they were able to at least seize part of the money! I wonder why it took the store manager 2 months to notify the lottery commission? This should be a lesson to Mr. Willis to never trust a clerk with lottery tickets and to check his own darn tickets! All he had to do was to get a print out of the winning numbers from the store clerk. They will print out the numbers for you upon request and he could have compared the numbers to his ticket in the privacy of his own home. Once he found out he had a winner he should have signed the ticket and contacted the Lottery commission. (By the way who in the hell haves the same first and last name?) Willis Willis, you have got to be kidding me!
"You Make a living by what you earn, You make a life by what you give!"
Sir Winston Churchill
I got my shades on waiting for the sun to shine my way!
JAY-Z The Blueprint
This is why I always sign my tickets and do not let any convenience store or liquor store clerk check it for me. I do it myself. I am happy he will be getting at least some of his money. Shame on that convenience store clerk!
Why do they take them to the convenience store?
Trust no one.
Check online and take it to the branch office.
The young Clerk knows he did something wrong
I wouldn't like that cloud hanging over my head
I wonder how well he sleeps at night?
I check my own tickets - not difficult !
By the way, 2 Powerball Winners and nothing on LotteryPost ?!?!?!?!?!?!
How stupid can one person be ?
He does not watch drawings, it takes seconds to check in the newspaper, ask for a number printout
any of those would told him it was a winner then he should of signed the ticket
what really should made him suspicious he megaplied so winning 2 dollars is impossible
Excellent point on the megaply.
I buy my tics at the same convenience store all the time, and while the people that own the store are the ones that I usually buy from, and they are very nice, I always, always check my tics at home before I go to cash them in. I know how much I won before I go.
"The IRS, which wins no matter what ..."
The clerk that stole the winnig ticket will not get anything good from it. He will lose the money one way or another.
You cannot do people like that and get away with it.Something will happen to him sooner or later.
I would never trust a clerk or anyone else for that matter, to check my tickets. I always check my tickets online first. Always. That way, I know what I won ahead of time. These stories, are way to common to end up trusting a ticket that could be worth thousands or millions to a clerk that you barely know.
Check your own tickets yourself ..... sign ticket first and make copies of signed ticket.
Call lottery hotline for winning numbers
Check lottery website for winning numbers
Check Lottery Post for winning numbers
Check USAMega.com for winning numbers
Use self check terminals to check your ticket
Ask for winning print outs from lottery terminals .... but ...
Do not let the winning ticket leave your hands until you turn it in at the state lottery office.
I think a guide on how to check, and cash in your ticket is needed. With all the guides on how to filter and select numbers seemed not as important when comes to the final few steps in claiming it! Too many of these kind of stories really makes you wonder the capability of human nature.
What a scambug, I hope they extradite him from wherever he ran off to and send him to jail.
A life without honor and integrity is not worth living. I'm broke but I ain't gonna cheat, I just cut back on things.
I'm glad the coworkers did the right thing.
Well one is a case of someone who didn't really need to win the lottery winning the lottery...the Doctor; the other is a cheesehead. I think the Sargento (imagine that...the other 100 or so cheeseheads) powerball winners were the highlight of Powerball winners from Wisconsin. Better to highlight the scandals. But congrats to the Dr. who is going to funnel much of his winnings to charity and the cheesehead who lost his brother a few years ago...now it's my time to shine and win!
But if the Doc is a smart man, he will actually keep a nice portion of that jackpot for himself as Papa Obama, the taxing Demo Congress, and the cronies at IRS (who are alleged to have applied for tens of millions of the first time homebuyer $8,000 tax credit for which THEY did not qualify) come after him with the pending huge tax hikes and inevitable audits. Isn't it something when the Congressman heading the Ways and Means Committee (Rangel) and others in the current Obama administration can get away with blatant tax fraud and evasion while a good guy golfer like Jim Thorpe and actor like Wesley Snipes are facing huge fines and prison time for the very same offenses! Smells of a double standard. Me thinks I need to get elected to public office so I can enjoy some of that double standard immunity! Heck along the way, I might even hit the jackpot!
Some people should not be alowed to gamble..
"who in the hell haves the same first and last name?"
Sounds like another case of bad parenting.
Willis stated that he plans to continue to play the lottery, but not at the Lucky Food Store. He is too stupid to purchase tickets anywhere else. If his sorry azz got robbed at the Lucky Food Store then it is a given that his sorry azz will get robbed again elsewhere. He should be on his knees thanking the store owner and the employees for figuring out that his sorry azz was robbed!!! The ungrateful puppy!!! The store did not rob him, the greedy clerk did. I think the store owner and the store clerks went above and beyond the call of duty to this sorry puppy to make sure he got his money. If anything he should reward each and every one of those people for correcting a wrong that was done to him.
"Willis might never have learned of his would-be fortune's misfortune if Joshi's coworkers hadn't sleuthed it out.
Rahman said he and the Lucky Food Store manager got suspicious when Joshi turned in his notice two weeks after the drawing — saying he was moving back to Nepal to help his cousin with her perfume store.
Alarm bells rang when the men learned that Joshi had claimed the prize from a lottery center in Austin, Texas. In four years, they said, they had never seen him buy a lottery ticket.
The men tried to call Joshi to confront him, Rahman said, but he wouldn't pick up the phone.
At the end of July, two months after the drawing, the Lucky Store manager tipped off the Texas Lottery Commission.
A commission investigator visited the store and, after poring over receipts, determined Willis had bought the winning ticket.
When the investigator called the almost-millionaire, Willis said he hadn't suspected a thing."
Had it not been for these folks Willis would've been happy and content with the $2 he was given. Had it been me notified that I had been frauded like this, I would feel obligated to give these people at least five to ten thousand dollars cash a piece because if it were not for them I would not have it.
That is why I check my tickets more than once before I ever go to cash them in and I write in pencil on the back upper corner how much each ticket is worth. Sometimes I will wait a few days or weeks before I cash in the ticket if it is a large amount because I check it again to make sure that I did not misread the numbers during the excitement of winning.
I have had some of my winning tickets to kick out as a non-winner more than once and pressed the clerk to run it through again and give me a print out for the date and drawing in question. When the clerk printed the result printout, it showed that my ticket was a winner. That is why I always ask for all of my non-winning tickets back.
He spent $20 on 3 lottery tickets? What game is that?
I'm always amazed at how careless people can be. Why would you trust a $7 an hour clerk to check to see if you're holding millions of dollars?? At the very least you should stand there and watch them then ask for your ticket back. In that Dateline lottery investigation more than 50 of the clerks were busted lying about a winning ticket. It's bizarre.
poor willis... i hope he will be able to receive the portion of the retrieved winnings.
Well, at least the IRS got their cut. At least we can all be happy and thankful for that, right? Yesiree,Bob!
I'm so ecstatically happy I'm beside myself.
Yup the IRS did get their cut. But guess what, they're gonna get paid again from this. How? Correct me if I am wrong..... When the ticket was cashed in by the crooked clerk, he was taxed for the one million dollar amount. Now, when/if Willis get the remaining money he will be taxed by the IRS because it will be considered income. Just because the money went to and was taxed under the crooked clerk's name as income will not get Willis from under the obligation of paying taxes on his windfall. Now to add insult to injury, how about the IRS taxes Willis on the whole million instead of the amount that is recovered on his behalf.
I would say after paying the tax man and his attorney I'd be surprised if he has enough to buy a case of generic toilet paper to clean up the sh-it he caused by being too lazy to check his own tickets.
So it is payday for the IRS. Congratulations IRS you're the real winner.
Nope- IRS can only tax you on what you received, not what you 'should have' received. They are good but not that good.
I deleted several political rants, and a couple of attacks. Please keep the politics in the blogs. If you'd like to discuss any of this political stuff with me, as far as what gets deleted and why, feel free to send me a PM, but please do not post those comments or questions in this thread.
"He never saw the drawing on TV,he later told investigators, because he didn't know how to find it."
What you talkin' about Willis Willis?
aww cmon people there is at least 2 convienence store owners who aint that bad, the ones who tipped of the lotto commision and got this old battler part of his winnings. sure he mAYbe dumb, and trusting and naive, but a world where people are trusting and not always watching out incase they are done over is a nicer world than one where you dont trust anyone.
well im glad he gets some of it. as the guy who claimed the win paid tax that isnt rightfully his, the state should hand it back to the real winner, and tax him on the amount he actually recieved.
state shouldnt get to keep tax on stolen money right? not when they know who the legit owner is?
I hope this man get the money which rightfully belonged to him. He should be thankful to the store owner and clerks who became suspicious of their co-worker sudden quitting and notifying authorities of his claiming the prize for himself.
I too am guilty of having my tickets checked by store clerks. I 'll never know if a ticket I had for Hold em Poker was a winner or not, but I always suspected that it may have won. From that point on, I get nonwinning tickets back from the clerks.
also, There are many stores in where self check of tickets are not available to check for game winners. This does not include games like pb, mega, fantasy five (online games).
Just because a store has no self-check ticket scanner, does not excuse the carelessness or laziness of the ticket owner for not doing it his/herself. Every state/country has "self check of tickets" available. It's called "Check It Yourself." There is no lottery player alive that can justify not checking their tickets after the drawing. There are newspapers, the lottery website, the Lottery Post, the results printout, the 800 or 900 number to call for results. Need I go on?
Nor is there any valid excuse in all of existance to justify any lottery player not signing their ticket. That is one of the first things written on the back of playslips, results slips, any/all things lottery related. When you sign your ticket sign it in ink, not felt pen, crayon, or pencil. If you choose not to sign your name for security purposes then at least clearly print your name in ink.
Another thing you should do is always check your tickets before you go cash them in. I have had winning tickets kick out saying they were non winners when in actuality they were winners. I have had this happen more than once and because I asked for a print out of the drawing in question I was able to cash my ticket(s). If the clerk hadn't cashed the tickets, then I would've went to the local lottery office to find out why my ticket(s) were rejected by the system.
Just because the store clerk is a low-down-crook, does not excuse Mr. Willis for being careless and lazy. Mr Willis must be held accountable for his actions and so should the crooked store clerk. If the U.S. can extradite this ***** then do it. But the money is long gone.
I always say, the best sense is bought sense. Well Mr. Willis has just paid for his sense to the sum of $635,000.
Why play if you are not going to check what number throw,
You would be surprised how many people don't check their tickets; I've had people ask me what the MM numbers were on a date two months ago. Another problem is people watch the drawings and write down the numbers as they are drawn and believe their numbers must be in the same order. We wonder how they can do that but they don't play very often and there are games where the numbers must be in the exact order.
Some people buy MM and PB tickets without knowing there are secondary prizes and/or the value of the tickets. If player tells the clerk "check this ticket, I think I won 3 bucks", a dishonest clerk might see the ticket is worth $150, hand the player $3, and pocket the rest. I play multi-number wheels and there have been many times when I thought I matched two numbers but I actually matched 3. But I only cash tickets at an "honest store" and the clerk tells me how much. Last year when I was playing Ohio's Ten-Oh, I thought I'd matched 7 numbers for a $40 prize but it was an 8 number match worth $400. Had I went to another store and told the clerk the ticket was worth $40, a dishonest clerk may have handed me the $40 and kept the rest. Sure, I should have known exactly what the ticket was worth, but at least I didn't hand the ticket to a possible dishonest clerk.
It's impossible to know how many other "Willis" have been cheated out of thousands of dollars on one ticket and with the daily volume of all lottery play how many players have been cheated by dishonest clerks after being told their tickets are worthless or paid them substantially less than the ticket was really worth.
Chris Hanson of Dateline NBC thought they uncovered something after talking to retailers that had cashed multiple jackpot winners but I believed the players knew the actual value of those tickets and accepted a discounted value from the retailer so they could get the money immediately. Had Dateline bought a roll of scratch-offs and taken the winners to multiple stores, they might have discovered how many dishonest clerks tried to cheat them and have a real story.
"These stories, are way to common to end up trusting a ticket that could be worth thousands or millions to a clerk that you barely know."
Remember the TV ad campaign "Don't help a good kid go bad by leaving you keys in your car"
Maybe someone should start a new one....
"Don't help a good clerk go bad by having him check your lottery tickets, do it yourself".
Well it's happened again, this time it was in Columbus,Ohio and it's the store owner who complained he owned the ticket. He didn't suspect anything until after the worker quited and cashed in a $2M scratch-off.
http://www2.nbc4i.com/cmh/news/local/article/owner_worker_stole_lottery_tickets_hit_jackpot/26107/
What's up with people from the mid-east working in stores selling lottery tickets, hitting a jackpot and then hitting the road?