Timothy Dale Poole, a registered sex offender in the state of Florida, hit it big in the lottery this week.
He won three million dollars on a $20 Super Scratch-Off card he bought in tiny Mount Dora–and, under Florida law, he’ll get to keep every penny.
He has not made a statement about what he intends to do with the winnings, though records do show he chose to take them in a lump sum. The amount came to $2,219,807.90.
Poole, 43, was arrested in 1999 for battering a nine-year-old boy.
Then, in 2002, he pleaded guilty to attempted sexual battery involving two victims. Both were under the age of 12.
But Poole maintained his innocence. After being released from police custody in 2006, he was featured in an Orlando news story about the close contact sex offenders can have with customers in various jobs.
It was in that story that Poole was quoted as saying “It may be hard for some to believe, but sometimes people are wrongly accused.” He did not offer evidence on his own behalf.
Poole works for his mother’s taxicab company. The rules regulating taxis and other vehicles-for-hire in Lake County, where Poole lives, are lax.
There is no Florida law that prevents a convicted criminal from winning the lottery. State law does allow for the withholding of lottery winnings if the winner owes money to a state agency; Poole does not.
The odds of winning the Super Scratch-Off jackpot? One-in-1,680,000, according to the Florida Lottery.
The odds of a sex offender winning the same jackpot were not immediately available.
