"Was I in here last night? And did I spend $302,000?"
"Yes."
"Thank goodness!! I thought I'd lost it ..."
Posted on 01/16/2014 5:04:37 PM PST by nickcarraway
Malcolm Ramsey (pictured) won $500 a week for life, after winning the lottery in St. Petersburg, Fla., but he opted for the taxed lump sum of $302,446 after taxes. Four weeks later, the money was reportedly all gone. Now the police have opened an investigation to discover who could be responsible for taking advantage of the mentally challenged man, according to Tampa Bay Times.
Ramsey is a paranoid schizophrenic who has been hospitalized repeatedly for his mental illness and lives at an assisted living facility. A court once determined that Ramsey is unable to care for himself — much less his finances — but is able to come and go as he pleases; he also has a legal guardian because he has been deemed mentally incompetent.
Therefore, a judge appointed the non-profit Aging Solutions to handle all of Ramsey’s bills and to monitor his care. He receives assistance from the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program that pays for room and board, and they also provide him with a $54 monthly allowance. Reportedly, as soon as friends and family members got wind of his $1 scratch-off winnings, they showed up in droves to get their cut of the pie.
In order to claim his prize, the 55-year-old man took a copy of his birth certificate and a piece of ID then asked an acquaintance and cab driver Charlie Springer to ride him to Tallahassee to claim his big winnings.
Just as soon as Ramsey was able to cash the check at a check cashing place that charged him $14,ooo in fees, it was on and popping!
He reportedly took $19,678 in cash and purchased 268 money orders, each for $1,000. Police investigators discovered that Ramsey cashed 21 money orders on November 6th and one or more others on nearly every other day thereafter.
On Black Friday, he parceled $8,000 and purchased a flat-screen TV at Walmart. On another day, Ramsey reportedly visited a couple of malls and a flea market, where he purchased so many outfits that he had to buy plastic storage bins in order to accommodate them all. He also bought 40 Timex watches for family members at $19.95 a pop.
Aging Solutions was contacted by Ramsey’s assisted living facility, when workers began to notice family members they had never seen before all of a sudden visiting the man. Lona DiCerb, director of operations at Aging Solutions, the nonprofit then in charge of Ramsey’s care, told Tampa Bay Times that seeing Ramsey surround himself with folks who had never even paid him a visit before his winnings was worrisome.
Consequently, DiCerb felt compelled to contact the authorities because she felt it was in Ramsey’s best interest.
Two weeks reportedly went by when police decided to investigate Ramsey’s windfall case and already $100,000 was but a mere memory. When the St. Petersburg police began to question Ramsey and visited his home, he unlocked a closet and handed the detectives $118,000 in money orders; police have since placed them all in a safe.
Investigators, who are delving in to the Ramsey case, are trying to figure out where a huge amount of the monies have gone. So far, relatives have admitted to receiving new cell phones, $1,500 for a nephew’s timing belt for his car, cash gifts, and restaurant outings. Detectives are trying to determine whether anyone took illegal advantage of the mentally challenged man as the exploitation of the disabled or elderly is a felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
Watch news coverage of this incident here:
Now, Ramsey stands to lose his Medicaid benefits and SSI because of his winnings and their strict income guidelines and all he has to say to Tampa Bay Times is that, “They took my money!”
Lottery = A tax on stupidity.
Hire him to do the National Budget. He’s better than what we have now.
The lottery is not a tax. It’s voluntary. And it’s better than actual taxes.
In Michigan in the 70’s, they started the lottery to drive the mob in Detroit out of numbers racket. The tickets looked like a little government documents with fancy scrollwork, and winner got you a $25 prize. We have certainly come a long way.
Well it was a heck of a four weeks. :-)
A fool and his money are soon parted.
The biggest thief in this sad situation is the Govt.
They charged him $102K
...he also has a legal guardian because he has been deemed mentally incompetent.
***
Gee, that person really helped him here. /s
Geez, this piece is really poorly written.
"Was I in here last night? And did I spend $302,000?"
"Yes."
"Thank goodness!! I thought I'd lost it ..."
It never fails to amaze me that these idiots don’t take the weekly check and instead take the HUGE tax hit by taking the money all up front and lose 1/3 of their money before it ever touches their hands.
Versus the assumption the state will keep paying you weekly “for life”, without ever changing the tax rules?
I’ll take the lump.
I know who took the first $100,000. Uncle Sam.
Yeah I think I’d take the lump sum as well.
If I came into a large sum of money I’d buy a chunk of land, plant a modest house on it and lease out as much of the land as I could as farm land.
“Was I in here last night? And did I spend $302,000?” “Yes.” “Thank goodness!! I thought I’d lost it ...”
Ah, Egbert Sousé and J. Frothingham Waterbury at the Black Pussy Cafe. Great movie.
“Could we pull the shades?”
“You can pull anything you want in here, it’s a regular joint.”
Depending on your age it very well could be better to take the lump sum.
The problem with taking it in monthly payments is you don’t know what the tax rate will be down the road. You also don’t know how long you will be alive. I would take it now and nobody would ever find out about it.
I’ve had a lottery winner tell me he took the Whole Enchillada in one lump sum because he has no faith in the future, saw no reason to wait.
The mob paid better when they ran the number racket. On a simple pick 3 the mob would pay 800. Only taking 20% or less. The govt pays what? 400? The mob would run the country better since they steal less.
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