Man Claims Co-Worker Stole $30 Million Winning Lottery Ticket From Wallet

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 posted 11:49 AM EDT

Nobody denies that on the evening of Nov. 15, 2006, truck driver Michael Ford (right) strode into the Town Star convenience store in Frostproof and bought two Quick Pick Lotto tickets, while his co-worker, Abraham Shakespeare (left), waited outside.

Nobody denies that one of those tickets was a winner, worth $17 million in a lump-sum payment.

So why is Shakespeare now a multimillionaire and Ford still living paycheck to paycheck?

That's the subject of a civil lawsuit taking place in a Polk County courthouse this week.

Ford claims that Shakespeare stole the tickets from his wallet at some point as the two of them drove to Miami to deliver meat. He says he left his wallet in the truck, and that Shakespeare took them when he was alone in the truck.

Shakespeare adamantly denies this, saying that he gave Ford the cash to buy two tickets for him.

During opening statements Monday, lawyer Arnold Levine, representing Ford, and lawyers Willie Gary and Manny Socias, representing Shakespeare, talked about the cases they were going to present.

Levine said that jurors had to consider witness credibility.

Shakespeare, he said, had committed nine crimes of dishonesty that had resulted in either felony or misdemeanor convictions.

"Does a leopard change its spots? You have to ask yourself," Levine said.

His client always bought two tickets at that store in Frostproof, which was on a regular route of his, and a store clerk would testify to that, Levine said. On that day, if Shakespeare also wanted two tickets, "Why didn't he (Ford) buy four tickets?"

On Shakespeare's 2006 tax return, he claimed he only earned $32 for the entire year, Levine said. If that were the case, where did Shakespeare get $2 to buy lottery tickets? Levine asked.

Levine said that Shakespeare had given varying amounts of money to some of the witnesses who were going to testify in Shakespeare's favor.

Shakespeare gave a man named Michael Strong, who will be a witness for Shakespeare, a $5,000 check and $2,000 in cash, Levine said.

Shakespeare paid another man's $185,000 mortgage, Levine said.

Levine said that when Ford found out that the winning Quick Pick ticket had been stolen from him, he went to the store owner and told her. She called lottery officials and was told the money had already been claimed and that there was nothing she could do, he said.

In his opening statement, Shakespeare lawyer Socias told the jury that Shakespeare had indeed given Ford the money for the tickets and Ford filed the lawsuit because he was angry and bitter about his loss.

Socias said that coworkers of Shakespeare's would testify that Ford had told them several different stories, first admitting that he bought the tickets for Shakespeare, then claiming that Shakespeare stole the tickets from him.

Willie Gary, another of Shakespeare's lawyers, wrapped up the opening statements, saying that Ford's story didn't make sense.

Ford said he brought his wallet with him into the store to buy the tickets because he needed his identification card to buy cigarettes. Ford claimed he normally left his wallet in the truck, where he says Shakespeare spotted it and stole the tickets.

Gary said that made no sense because Ford had been visiting the store for a long time and the store clerks knew Ford and he wouldn't need I.D., and also, Ford was clearly old enough to buy cigarettes.

Gary also said that there was no reason for Shakespeare to have taken lottery tickets that were worthless at the time they were purchased, because he could not have known that one of them would be a winner.

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