Glenn
06-18-2008, 04:07 PM
Lovely.
Mega Millions brings good fortune to man with criminal past
http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2008/06/111megawin.jpg
AP Photo
Fred Topous, the latest Mega Millions jackpot winner, displays his lucky Lottery ticket. Topous, who has vowed to continue to play Michigan Lottery games, elected to take the lump sum payment of $33,989,267.
Posted by Joe Snapper | The Grand Rapids Press June 18, 2008 07:52AM
ALPINE TOWNSHIP -- Fred Topous shows up on three State of Michigan Web sites.
Today, the Kent City man headlines the state lottery Web page, winner of Friday's $57 million Mega Millions prize.
"I want to enjoy a little bit of life," Michigan's newest millionaire told state lottery officials Tuesday. "We're plain folks. We've struggled all our lives."
He also is listed on two other state Web sites -- the State Public Sex Offender Registry and the state Department of Corrections offender profile.
Those pages name Frederick A. Topous Jr. for three felony convictions in Grand Traverse County. He was released from corrections oversight in 2006 for the most recent, a 1999 attempted sexual assault conviction.
Jan Westcott, friend and co-worker of Mega Millions Lotto winner Fred Topous, said "He's had some tough breaks. I know some of his secrets, and he knows some of mine. I'm not going any further." Topous, 45, did not return voice messages left by The Press on his cell phone after the award was announced Tuesday night.
He claimed the Mega Millions prize in Lansing on Tuesday, the seventh-largest jackpot in Michigan lottery history. He chose to collect the alternative $34 million lump-sum payment and told lottery officials he didn't know until driving home from work Monday that he had won.
At Party World in Alpine Township, where the winning ticket was sold, the announcement ended the mystery as to which customer had won.
"He seemed like a nice guy anyway," said clerk Andy Bekins, whose family owns the Comstock Park store.
Added clerk Rob Antor, "He was never in a bad mood. He just picked up his beer and shot the breeze."
State records show Topous was discharged from state oversight in October 2006. He lived in Kentwood until late November and had been renting the top floor of an old farmhouse that co-worker Rick Westcott's family owned on Peach Ridge Avenue near Kent City.
Westcott, 48, said Topous picked up his wife and two of his children early Tuesday, then planned to collect his father, who has cancer and lives elsewhere in Michigan, to take a long vacation, he said.
"They were heading to Lansing this morning, and then he said they were going to be gone for a while, " said Westcott, who worked with Topous at Structural Standards in Sparta. "Can you blame him?"
Westcott and his brother, Jan, 49, both worked for the past year with Topous and often played poker late into the night at the farmhouse.
The three were playing Friday night during the Mega Millions drawing. They did not watch the drawing -- Topous did not yet realize he had won -- and the Westcott brothers cleaned him out at the poker table.
"He was a millionaire already," said Rick Westcott about the winning ticket, one of five he said Topous bought "on a whim" when he stopped by Party World to buy the latest beer special.
Topous pleaded guilty to breaking-and-entering in Grand Traverse County in 1984 and again in 1988, according to corrections records, and was discharged from state supervision in 1996.
In 1999, Topous pleaded guilty in Grand Traverse County to attempted criminal sexual conduct with intent to commit penetration, the records say. He was sentenced to 5 1/2 to 10 years in prison and was released from state oversight in October 2006.
Topous must register as a sex offender until 2024, according to registry records.
Details of the three crimes were not immediately available. The Press also could not reach Lottery Commissioner M. Scott Bowen or spokeswoman Andi Brancato for comment late Tuesday.
"We're always happy to make someone a millionaire, and we wish Mr. Topous and his family all the best," Bowen said in a statement announcing the win..
Topous told lottery officials he plans to buy a house for his family and put his three children through college.
"We thought we were going to end up working until we died, but not any more," Topous told lottery officials.
"Now, I don't have to wait until Friday to get groceries or put gas in the truck."
Mega Millions brings good fortune to man with criminal past
http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2008/06/111megawin.jpg
AP Photo
Fred Topous, the latest Mega Millions jackpot winner, displays his lucky Lottery ticket. Topous, who has vowed to continue to play Michigan Lottery games, elected to take the lump sum payment of $33,989,267.
Posted by Joe Snapper | The Grand Rapids Press June 18, 2008 07:52AM
ALPINE TOWNSHIP -- Fred Topous shows up on three State of Michigan Web sites.
Today, the Kent City man headlines the state lottery Web page, winner of Friday's $57 million Mega Millions prize.
"I want to enjoy a little bit of life," Michigan's newest millionaire told state lottery officials Tuesday. "We're plain folks. We've struggled all our lives."
He also is listed on two other state Web sites -- the State Public Sex Offender Registry and the state Department of Corrections offender profile.
Those pages name Frederick A. Topous Jr. for three felony convictions in Grand Traverse County. He was released from corrections oversight in 2006 for the most recent, a 1999 attempted sexual assault conviction.
Jan Westcott, friend and co-worker of Mega Millions Lotto winner Fred Topous, said "He's had some tough breaks. I know some of his secrets, and he knows some of mine. I'm not going any further." Topous, 45, did not return voice messages left by The Press on his cell phone after the award was announced Tuesday night.
He claimed the Mega Millions prize in Lansing on Tuesday, the seventh-largest jackpot in Michigan lottery history. He chose to collect the alternative $34 million lump-sum payment and told lottery officials he didn't know until driving home from work Monday that he had won.
At Party World in Alpine Township, where the winning ticket was sold, the announcement ended the mystery as to which customer had won.
"He seemed like a nice guy anyway," said clerk Andy Bekins, whose family owns the Comstock Park store.
Added clerk Rob Antor, "He was never in a bad mood. He just picked up his beer and shot the breeze."
State records show Topous was discharged from state oversight in October 2006. He lived in Kentwood until late November and had been renting the top floor of an old farmhouse that co-worker Rick Westcott's family owned on Peach Ridge Avenue near Kent City.
Westcott, 48, said Topous picked up his wife and two of his children early Tuesday, then planned to collect his father, who has cancer and lives elsewhere in Michigan, to take a long vacation, he said.
"They were heading to Lansing this morning, and then he said they were going to be gone for a while, " said Westcott, who worked with Topous at Structural Standards in Sparta. "Can you blame him?"
Westcott and his brother, Jan, 49, both worked for the past year with Topous and often played poker late into the night at the farmhouse.
The three were playing Friday night during the Mega Millions drawing. They did not watch the drawing -- Topous did not yet realize he had won -- and the Westcott brothers cleaned him out at the poker table.
"He was a millionaire already," said Rick Westcott about the winning ticket, one of five he said Topous bought "on a whim" when he stopped by Party World to buy the latest beer special.
Topous pleaded guilty to breaking-and-entering in Grand Traverse County in 1984 and again in 1988, according to corrections records, and was discharged from state supervision in 1996.
In 1999, Topous pleaded guilty in Grand Traverse County to attempted criminal sexual conduct with intent to commit penetration, the records say. He was sentenced to 5 1/2 to 10 years in prison and was released from state oversight in October 2006.
Topous must register as a sex offender until 2024, according to registry records.
Details of the three crimes were not immediately available. The Press also could not reach Lottery Commissioner M. Scott Bowen or spokeswoman Andi Brancato for comment late Tuesday.
"We're always happy to make someone a millionaire, and we wish Mr. Topous and his family all the best," Bowen said in a statement announcing the win..
Topous told lottery officials he plans to buy a house for his family and put his three children through college.
"We thought we were going to end up working until we died, but not any more," Topous told lottery officials.
"Now, I don't have to wait until Friday to get groceries or put gas in the truck."