Lansing
Factory worker wins $310.5M Powerball ticket
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - A supervisor at a Michigan fiberglass factory who won a $310.5 million Powerball jackpot immediately quit her "nasty, dirty" job and will build houses for her family.
Julie Leach of Three Rivers said Tuesday she was having a "really bad night" working the third shift when she took her lunch break at McDonald's. She checked the five numbers in the drive-thru line.
"I keep going to sleep and waking up with the same beautiful dream," the 50-year-old told reporters in a news conference at the Michigan Lottery headquarters. Her partner of 36 years, Vaughn Avery, and some of their children and grandchildren looked on.
"I'm going to take care of my kids," Leach said. "I don't want them to have to work like I had to work and deal with the kinds of things I had to deal with over life. I just want to make it a good life for them, take care of them."
She took a one-time lump payment of $197.4 million, about $140 million after taxes.
Leach played in a lottery pool with her co-workers. But she stopped to buy $20 worth of extra tickets at the Three Rivers West Shell gas station on the way to work Wednesday night. At first, she did not believe she had won, returning to the Aquatic Bathware plant to ask co-workers to verify it. Then she went home and woke up Avery.
"He wanted to go to work. I said, 'Are you crazy? We don't have to work anymore,'" Leach said.
"We've always talked around campfires and stuff, that if we ever won the lottery we wanted to buy a bunch of land and build all of our kids a home and basically have our own little community."
Petoskey
Police say lawyer stole $100K from elderly woman
PETOSKEY, Mich. (AP) - Authorities say 67-year-old northern Michigan man stole more than $100,000 from an elderly woman who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease while he was serving as a lawyer.
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette announced charges against Michael Aho Kennedy of Petoskey. Kennedy was disbarred this year by the State of Michigan Attorney Discipline Board. He was arraigned on Monday in Emmet County District Court.
The Associated Press sent a message seeking comment Tuesday from his lawyer.
Investigators believe the embezzlement began in 2006 and a trust was drained. Schuette's office says the woman's family in 2012 received an inquiry from the Internal Revenue Service about investments Kennedy selected and investigators took note.
The woman died in August. Kennedy is charged with embezzlement from a vulnerable adult and embezzlement by a trustee.
Gaylord
Frat member gets probation in resort vandalism
GAYLORD, Mich. (AP) - A member of a now-closed University of Michigan fraternity has been sentenced to two years of probation for a misdemeanor charge connected to vandalism at a ski resort.
The Otsego County prosecutor's office says 22-year-old Jesse Krumholz also was ordered in court Monday to pay $5,000 in restitution and about $400 in costs. His sentence included 100 hours of community service, which he already has completed.
The Associated Press left a message Tuesday seeking comment from his lawyer. Krumholz earlier pleaded guilty to malicious destruction of a building.
Doors, furniture, fixtures and carpet were badly damaged at Treetops Resort in Dover Township and Boyne Highlands near Petoskey. Both are in northern Michigan.
Treetops estimated $430,000 in costs from the Jan. 17-18 vandalism. Several other Sigma Alpha Mu members were charged.
Detroit
Judge orders $150K to heirs of lawyer in scandal
DETROIT (AP) - A judge has ordered the federal government to refund $150,000 to heirs of a Detroit pension fund lawyer who died before being sent to prison for his role in a bribery and kickback scandal.
The Detroit News reports that weeks before 71-year-old Ronald Zajac died in July at his home in Wayne County's Northville Township he made the payment for his role in the corruption scandal under a forfeiture order.
Zajac was awaiting sentencing after he and two others were found guilty of conspiracy. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds vacated the conviction, dismissed the indictment and ordered the money sent to Zajac's estate because he died pending an appeal.
The Detroit Free Press reports that prosecutors wanted to return the money to pensioners, including police officers and retirees.
Published: Wed, Oct 07, 2015
