Yup. He's from West Virginia. :-)
Posted on 12/01/2004 3:45:32 PM PST by decimon
By JENNIFER BUNDY, Associated Press Writer
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A man who won a record $315 million in the Powerball lottery was taken to jail on charges of drunken driving and carrying a pistol, authorities said.
Jack Whittaker, 57, was arrested Tuesday night after his Hummer struck a concrete median on the West Virginia Turnpike near Beckley.
Senior Trooper M.J. Pinardo reported that he smelled alcohol but Whittaker refused sobriety tests and was "extremely belligerent." Troopers also said they found a small pistol in Whittaker's boot and he was carrying $117,000 in cash.
Whittaker, who was alone, complained of back pain. He was treated at a hospital, and then jailed early Wednesday.
Whittaker was released after he was arraigned and posted $1,700 bail. Besides the DUI and weapons charge, he was charged with failure to maintain control of his vehicle and failure to submit to a breath test.
It was the latest in a series of incidents involving Whittaker since he took home the largest single jackpot ever.
Whittaker's vehicle, business and home have allegedly been broken into multiple times.
The body of 18-year-old Jesse Joe Tribble was found at Whittaker's home in September. Tribble's death was not a crime and Whittaker was out of town at the time.
Whittaker also faces charges of assaulting and threatening a manager at a bar in January.
All that cash in his pocket and he couldn't hail a cab?
This guy is either going to kill somebody or himself. He seems to be burning himself out with all that money.
What the hell is wrong with him?
It's Good To Be The King!
This guy again?
Proving, once again, that most cannot handle riches.
watch the libbies line up at the jail looking for a hand out. i remember when he first won the money he had to hire people to answer all the requests for handouts.
Anybody who carries that much cash is asking to be robbed and/or killed.
I was just reading the article out loud to my husband a minute ago, didn't know it was also on FR! Yeah, like I wouldn't have had a driver waiting?
obviously the lack of money was not his biggest problem.
Failure to submit to a breath test is a crime? I thought the roadside tests were voluntary???
Yup. He's from West Virginia. :-)
I will help him carry the money next time.
Could be worse.. could be this lady.
http://www.lotterypost.com/news-101747.htm
I'm still trying to figure out how divine justice deemed this man to be the winner in the 1st place. . .
He could have paid me $117K to drive him around for the evening. He wouldn't have a screwed up neck, a smashed car and a possible weapons charge on him now.
I'd have turned around and plowed that money right back into the economy with the purchase of a halfway decent 45 foot sloop.
Nope...that was the "Church of God."
Jesse Joe Tribble? They found 117k in his pocket?
Where do these people live?
There's no traffic cops at sea when you own a 115' yacht.
You could have had a great reality show just by hiring a camera crew to follow Jack Whitaker around for a year.
He better be very thankful he didn't hit anyone with his Hummer. He would be ripe for the taking for liability.
This guy is an idiot. He's been in trouble ever since he won that money.
You would think he could hire someone to drive him around.
west virginia.. its right there in the article!! LOL! just kidden.
Can't believe I'm the first yahoo to get in a post about this yahoo.
If I ever come into a lot of money I'm going to just disappear somewhere.
Cash can't buy class. If he lives long enough (doubtful) he'll most likely die broke.
What? What a loser. The right thing to do now is to take away all that money and give it to me.
Oh, that explains that.
Or, impress 17 year old schoolgirls.
actually he was quite wealthy before winning. I guess now he is famous so we here about him in the news.
That's right, it can't. This guy already was a self-made millionaire and owned his own construction company-in addition to giving 10% of the jackpot to the Church of God, he was going to use part of it to help out his employees who had been laid off in an industry downturn. With his subsequent record(post jackpot), I wonder if he did either of the other two things.
This dude has been in more crapola since his winning the big money. Even his favorite bar drunks turned on him and ripped him off. His wife should see a lawyer and grab her half before he kills someone while on a binge and they get it all. The guy is addicted and stupid.
My statement stands....
He only cleared 111 million cash pay off after taxes, poor thing.
Amen brother!
Yeah sucks to be him *lol*
Heck, that's an easy one.
Poor (sic) Jack has been set up to teach us all that we should be careful what we wish for....especially on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
I still wish for it to happen to me. I don't think I'd be an idiot like "poor" Jack, if I did win.
What's wrong with carrying a lot of cash and a gun in your boot?
If God had wanted a lottery, he would have let me win.
As false friends and scheming relations pop out of the woodwork, people become estranged and suspicious of everybody. Close family and true friends are driven away.
People become susceptible to drug addiction, drunkenness, obesity, cheap and nasty sex for hire, and the decay of self-respect one gets by lying around useless and lazy all day. Divorces and suicides are common. Frequently people over-spend and end up in worse financial shape than when they started.
Being wealthy is fine and I am getting there fast, but only by working my @$$ off. I take that much more pleasure in the finer things in life by knowing I got them by the sweat of my brow.
-ccm
Nothing. But that tribble thing is bothersome.
It's okay to wish and dream, just be careful.
Actually, the most careful you could be would be for you to win and let me handle all the finances. I promise I won't let you get into and troubles like poor Jack.
Tho' you may wish you'd never met me.
Who knows. The fact he was a Powerball winner makes the story all the more interesting to report. Had he not won the Powerball lottery and done the same thing, it wouldn't have made the national news wires. In either case, he's a loser, even though he was once a winner.
Is this the same guy who, a while back, parked his vehicle out side of a bar, and left the engine running for several hours while he was inside the bar? He later reported that a large amount of money was stolen from him. Turns out that it was the bartender and a waitress who ripped him off.
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