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Published January 13, 2015
A group of New York office workers thought they'd won the lottery — until the man who bought the ticket refused to share the prize money with his coworkers.
"I felt betrayed," Veronica Edmondson, one of three Mount Sinai Medical Center employees suing colleague John Piccolo, told the New York Daily News. "We trusted him with our money."
But Piccolo, who regularly bought the office pool's tickets, insists the winning ticket was a special one he got only for himself. Its second-place showing in the Nov. 2 Mega Millions (search) drawing netted $175,000 before taxes.
Edmondson said Piccolo called in late to work the next day with the words, "Don't be mad at me, but I just won the Mega Millions second prize."
She cried out, "We won, John!" — only to hear him respond, "No, I won."
Piccolo did offer her a consolation prize, Edmondson told the Daily News — a Mega Millions umbrella that lottery officials gave him when he picked up his check.
"He said, 'There is nothing you can do. The courts won't take it,'" she explained. "He even had the nerve to come to work and show us the receipt for the money with the taxes taken out of it."
Unfortunately for Piccolo, a court did take the case, and froze 75 percent of the $109,000 he got after taxes.
"I guess he got amnesia when he got the money," said the lawyer for the three peeved coworkers.
After hitting the jackpot, Piccolo came back to the office for a while, but told the Daily News that hostility from his colleagues — five were in the pool with him, but two decided not to sue him — raised his blood pressure and caused panic attacks. He's now out again with a back problem.
"It was a very, very stressful win," he said.
Boy Takes SUV-Assisted Flight Into Kitchen
POINCIANA, Fla. (AP) — A 4-year-old boy was thrown from his living-room couch into the kitchen when a sport utility vehicle driven by an 11-year-old neighbor hit his house.
Joseph Gillett was not injured Monday when he was thrown into the kitchen, where his parents were making dinner. His mother, Gina Gillett, said she was folding laundry on the living room floor until moments before the crash.
"I hear like a big bang," said Gina Gillett. "I thought, 'Is the world exploding?'"
She suffered the only injury of the night when she stepped barefoot onto broken glass.
The driver's mother said her daughter was trying to close the electric windows in the SUV when it started.
— Thanks to Out There reader Greg M.
Lawyer by Day, Porn Star by Night
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Criminal defense attorney Ronald S. Miller does more than file briefs — he also takes them off.
Miller has spent days in front of a judge and nights in front of a camera as Don Hollywood (search), a porn star. His wife, a former accountant, is also a porn star.
"My whole life, I've been one of those people who sees the wet paint sign and has to go up and touch it to see if it's wet," said the 56-year-old Miller. "I want to experience everything, try everything."
He has appeared in more than 90 films in the past seven years.
Miller said he tells his clients about his night job and has had no trouble balancing the careers.
Ethics expert and attorney Arthur Margolis said Miller isn't breaking any rules moonlighting as a porn actor.
"There isn't anything more unethical about that than being an actor or a novelist or somebody who sells frozen yogurt," Margolis said. "The only thing you have to be careful of, as you would in any other industry, is you don't do anything criminal or unethical in the sense of dishonesty."
Diane Curtis, a spokeswoman for the California Bar Association (search), declined to comment on Miller's second career, but said Wednesday the bar doesn't have a policy prohibiting such activity.
Defendant Mentions Moon, Shows It to Judge
PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) — A defendant who bared his backside in court and told a judge "I am going to the moon" has been ruled mentally competent for trial.
Cornell Jackson, 31, tried to persuade Circuit Judge Michael Overstreet that he was crazy and not faking mental illness at a hearing Tuesday — but to no avail.
"I ain't in my right mind," Jackson insisted. He also told the judge: "I am going to the moon. The spirits are gonna take me to the moon."
Jackson is facing a retrial on charges he beat his girlfriend.
He was convicted of armed burglary, aggravated battery and aggravated assault at two trials and was sentenced to 33 years in prison.
He declined to attend the first trial and was removed from the second in July 2003 after shouting "cuckoo!" and displaying his bottom to jurors.
The 1st District Court of Appeal (search) in Tallahassee last year reversed the convictions because Jackson never received a formal hearing to determine his mental competency.
No new trial date has been set.
Cop Drops Gun in Bathroom, Bullets Fly
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — This is a story they'll be telling around the San Antonio Police Department (search) for a long time.
A police spokesman says an off-duty officer was at an auto auction house in San Antonio Wednesday when nature called.
Officer Craig Clancy strolled to the appropriate facility and was lowering his trousers when his pistol fell from his waistband. When Clancy fumbled for the falling firearm, it went off — twice.
One of the bullets nicked a bit of floor tile into the leg of a man who was washing his hands nearby. That man was taken to an area hospital for treatment.
Police internal affairs is investigating.
Juror Fined $100 for Yawning in Court
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Call it a rude awakening.
A juror was cited for contempt and fined $1,000 by a judge for yawning loudly while awaiting questioning in an attempted murder trial. The fine later was reduced to $100.
The yawn came after the man, identified as Juror No. 2386 in an April 1 court transcript, had been sitting in a courtroom for two days as part of jury selection.
"You yawned rather audibly there. As a matter of fact, it was to the point that it was contemptuous," Superior Court Judge Craig Veals said.
"I'm sorry, but I'm really bored," the juror said.
"I'm sorry?" the judge responded.
When the juror repeated his statement, he was admonished by the judge for having a "lousy" attitude.
"Your boredom just cost you $1,000 — I'm finding you in contempt," Veals said. "Are you quite so bored now?"
The judge later called the yawn disruptive.
"I can't run a court when I have someone behaving the way you did," Veals said.
The juror paid the fine after it was reduced to $100. Ultimately, he was questioned but not selected for the trial.
Compiled by FOX News' Paul Wagenseil.
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