Grandma claims $22m lotto prize
Date November 4, 2012
Julie Cervera, third from left,came forward to claim a $23-million lottery jackpot after the winning ticket languished in her car's glove compartment for months and almost expired. With 180 days to claim the prize, Cervera only had until Nov. 25 to cash in. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
For more than five months Julie Cervera struggled to pay a $600 electrical bill, feed her family and keep the cable company from shutting off her service.
Meanwhile, her $US23 million ($A22.2 million) lottery ticket languished forgotten in the glove box of her car.
On Thursday, someone texted her a photo of her daughter, Charliena Marquez, buying the winning ticket for her at a Palmdale liquor store. The photo had been released by lottery officials searching for the mysterious winner of the May drawing.
"I put my 99 cent glasses on, and I had to put two pairs on to see it," said 69-year-old Cervera.
She recognise her daughter in the grainy photo, but she still couldn't read the caption.
"I thought she robbed a bank because I couldn't see the words on top," Cervera said with a laugh.
"So I put on a third pair (of glasses) and it said she won. I was like, 'No way!"'
Back in May, mother and daughter were driving home together when Marquez felt queasy and asked her mother to pull over so she could buy a bottle of water.
"She always gets carsick," Cervera said.
Cervera asked her daughter to buy her a lottery ticket and dug in her purse trying to find a dollar. Marquez protested but eventually used her own money to purchase a Super Lotto Plus ticket for her mother.
"I put it in my new car. It's an old car but it's new to me. It's been there for five months," Cervera said on Friday at a news conference with her three adult children and half a dozen grandchildren lined up behind her.
"I've got like 200 tickets laying around my house. I never check my tickets."
But when she finally looked in the glove box, the winning ticket was right where she left it. It was set to expire on November 26, so the California Lottery went looking for the winner.
Officials found the surveillance video from the liquor store and released the photo, which Cervera's other daughter spotted in the Antelope Valley Press.
Marquez initially dismissed calls and texts from friends and family who recognised her in the photo.
It wasn't until the next morning that Marquez realised she had bought the winning ticket that would help her mother and her entire family for years to come.
Cervera, a widow who has lived on disability for 20 years, said her family has been through difficult times recently.
Last year her 47-year-old son Rudy was killed in a motorcycle accident, leaving four teenage children.
"I'd give it all up to have my son here again," she said and began to cry.
Her oldest grandson, Rudy Jr, hugged her and the whole family wiped away tears.
"My grandkids are all going to be taken care of, and my (three) daughters," she said. "I'm just so happy. I'm going to buy me a pair of Reeboks."
AP
