16 Ocean County, N.J. Workers Claim Powerball Prize
LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- They call themselves "Ocean's 16." And after coming forward to claim their Powerball prize Monday, the 16 public employees from New Jersey are now multimillionaires.
The group of co-workers from the Ocean County Vehicle Maintenance Department, who showed up at state lottery headquarters Monday and posed with an oversized mock check, shared one of the three winning tickets in last week's $448 million Powerball jackpot. After taking the lump-sum payment of $86 million, dividing the winnings and having taxes deducted, each employee will receive about $3.8 million, lottery officials said.
An engineer in Minnesota claimed one-third of the prize Thursday. The holder of the third winning ticket, which was sold in South Brunswick, N.J., has not yet come forward.
The 16 winners from Ocean County will be introduced at a news conference Tuesday in Toms River, where they work.
Last week, James Pine, director of the Ocean County Vehicle Maintenance Department, said all of the lottery winners showed up for work the day after winning, and several returned Friday.
"That's the type of people they are," Pine told reporters, including CBS 2's Dray Clark.
"I am so happy for these 16 people," he added. "I'm just so happy for them."
Some of the Ocean County winners suffered losses during superstorm Sandy, 1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck reported. On Sunday, one of the winners, Susan Nickel, of Eagleswood Township, became the first of the group to speak publicly, telling a Philadelphia TV station that she was "in the clouds" and would use the winnings to repair her home, which was damaged during Sandy.
The workers also helped keep the county's fleet running during the storm.
You May Also Be Interested In These Stories
