Maryland Man Says He Bought Winning Powerball Ticket In Arizona
UPPER MARLBORO, Md. (WJZ) -- A mystery Maryland man claims he has the winning Powerball ticket that was purchased in Arizona.
Mike Hellgren has more on the video that appears to show the man checking the winning numbers.
Did surveillance video capture the moment a Maryland man found out he won the Powerball jackpot, or is it a hoax?
The clerk who checked the ticket believes it's real.
"He said 'I got it!' He said 'You wanna see my ticket?' I said, 'Sure.' Then he showed me the ticket. It was the exact number on his ticket," said Kamran Afgan, store clerk.
Bill Kilby was standing next to the mystery man and also saw the numbers.
"The last comment I heard was he had enough money to ask his fiancee out, so I guess he was pretty happy about it," Kilby said.
The man was wearing a reflective uniform with a Virginia Department of Transportation logo. He told witnesses he lives in Maryland and retired from the military. He also said he brought the ticket in Arizona.
Even though he checked the ticket at a machine in an Upper Marlboro convenience store, it did not send a record back to the Maryland Lottery headquarters. If he did win the jackpot, he'll have to fly all the way to Arizona to claim it.
Maryland has been through this before.
Earlier this year, Miranda Wilson, a McDonald's worker from South Baltimore, gained international attention after claiming she had the winning Mega Millions ticket, but she wouldn't show it to anybody.
Wilson spoke to WJZ at the time.
"[My kids] are excited because this is a different life for me," she said.
It turns out the real winners were three Baltimore County educators, who called themselves the Three Amigos, and chose to remain anonymous.
"They had been kind of privately laughing among themselves and maybe texting back and forth that, you know, other people were claiming to have the ticket when, in fact, they knew where the ticket was," said Maryland Lottery Director Stephen Martino.
Maryland did, in fact, have a second place Powerball winner this time: Almerta Williams, a custodian from Harford County who picked numbers that matched her loved ones' birthdays. She picked one wrong because of some old glasses she was wearing, but it turned out to be the right choice.
"Me not being able to see got me $2 million. I'm a rich, blind woman," Williams said.
The lottery it seems has more plot twists than a soap opera. Will the mystery man join the ranks of the lucky? Tune in next time for a new episode of "Big Money, Big Drama."
Maryland Lottery officials say they cannot get confirmation that the man from the surveillance video is also a winner. If he does claim the $588 million prize, it's not a windfall for the state. He would have to pay the taxes in Arizona.
The man would also split the jackpot with a couple from Missouri. Mark Hill, a 52-year-old mechanic, and his wife, Cindy, came forward at a Friday news conference as the winners of one of the two Powerball tickets.
