First R. Kelly gets off scot free and now this...
If you knew how much of a lottery whore/perv hater I am, you'd know how pissed I am about this.
Sex offender wins $57 million lottery jackpot
LANSING, Mich. — The winner of last week's $57 million Mega Millions lottery
jackpot is a registered sex offender who also pleaded guilty to two breaking and
entering charges in the 1980s.
Fred Topous Jr., 45, was discharged from
Michigan Department of Corrections supervision in October 2006.
The Kent
City man traveled to Lansing on Tuesday to claim the prize from Friday's drawing
in the multistate game. Topous chose to take the prize as a $34 million lump sum
payment, before taxes.
Topous said he planned to buy a house, send his
children to college and have some fun with his winnings. He said he and his wife
work multiple jobs to make ends meet and thought they'd have to work till they
died.
"I want to enjoy a little bit of life," Topous told state lottery
officials. "We're plain folks. We've struggled all our lives."
According
to the Corrections Department's offender profile, Topous pleaded guilty to
assault with intent to commit sexual penetration in 1999 and pleaded guilty to
breaking and entering charges in 1984 and 1988.
All three offenses
occurred in Grand Traverse County. Prosecutor Alan Schneider said Wednesday that
he wasn't familiar with the cases.
The Michigan Lottery told Grand
Rapids television station WOOD that anyone can play the lottery except those
under 18 and those who work for the agency.
"He's had some tough
breaks," friend and co-worker Jan Westcott told The Grand Rapids Press. "I know
some of his secrets, and he knows some of mine. I'm not going any further."
A telephone message was left with Topous on Wednesday night.
[AJC]
