Winning the lottery will change your life for better or worse
TAMPA Tribune - Rhoda Toth didn't want her husband, Alex, to spend his last few dollars on a lottery ticket 16 years ago, and even after they won $13 million, she had a bad feeling, she says.
Now the money's gone, and so are most of their friends. Their house was foreclosed on two years ago. They live in a trailer in Hudson with no electricity or running water, and they said most of their family isn't talking to them.
On Wednesday, IRS agents arrested them and charged them with filing false tax returns. The government wants more than $500,000 from them. They could not afford to hire attorneys, so a judge appointed lawyers to represent them. "They lied on their return, and they tried to get a big fat refund from the government," said Internal Revenue Service spokesman Norman C. Meadows. "That's the harm, basically." "I wish I could give it all back," said Rhoda Toth, 49, talking about the lottery money outside the federal courthouse after pleading not guilty to charges of lying on tax returns for three years. "The life we led before the lottery, we were still happy."
Beneath each eye, Rhoda has a tattoo of a small tear, one for each of her deceased parents, she said. As she spoke, she cradled arms bandaged because of nerve damage. She said she suffered a brain injury when she fell outside a supermarket and hit her head. She owns a bar but said it's sporadically open and closed. The employees live off tips, she told a judge.
Alex Toth, 58, said he is receiving Social Security disability income since he was injured in an automobile accident in 2000. He's also had a few previous tangles with the law; his record
includes passing bad checks and growing marijuana.
What happened to their winnings from Florida Lotto?
"All the money is gone. From family and kids and stuff, it's all gone," Alex Toth told U.S. Magistrate Thomas B. McCoun III. Outside the courthouse, Rhoda Toth said, "It was given away. It was gambled. It was both. We traveled. We went places most people will never see," places like Lake Tahoe.
"I'd give it all back to have us a little home, a little tin-can car to drive around," she said. "If I could reverse the time and go back, I would. It would be so much different." Assistant U.S. Attorney Dennis Moore told the judge, "We have no evidence that the defendants have any assets."
In 1996, Rhoda Toth had a public falling-out with her son, Steven Michael Moser. She accused him in court of threatening her after she stopped giving him money. She said Wednesday that she and her son have since patched things up. She said he tries to help her, but there's not much he can do with a wife and a new baby.
The couple said Rhoda sued Alex over control of the money. They worked it out, they said, and are still together. But none of his children talk to him. Rhoda Toth said when the money was rolling in, they gave one of her cousins a new house and a car. Now that they're broke, the cousin won't even return their calls. None of the people they helped are there for them now, she said.
The lottery money was supposed to be spread out over 20 years, but the couple said they sold the annuity to pay debts. Neighbors near their trailer on Brenda Street in Hudson said the couple has gotten electricity by leaving a car running and rigging it with an extension cord from the engine. "I can't imagine anybody living in those conditions in this day and age," Laura Fender, 78, who lives across the street. "I can understand people being very poor. I can't understand somebody winning the lottery and they can't have electricity and water. There's something screwy with that."
thanks Hurricane Dustin for highlighting this story on your blog
Now the money's gone, and so are most of their friends. Their house was foreclosed on two years ago. They live in a trailer in Hudson with no electricity or running water, and they said most of their family isn't talking to them.
On Wednesday, IRS agents arrested them and charged them with filing false tax returns. The government wants more than $500,000 from them. They could not afford to hire attorneys, so a judge appointed lawyers to represent them. "They lied on their return, and they tried to get a big fat refund from the government," said Internal Revenue Service spokesman Norman C. Meadows. "That's the harm, basically." "I wish I could give it all back," said Rhoda Toth, 49, talking about the lottery money outside the federal courthouse after pleading not guilty to charges of lying on tax returns for three years. "The life we led before the lottery, we were still happy."
Beneath each eye, Rhoda has a tattoo of a small tear, one for each of her deceased parents, she said. As she spoke, she cradled arms bandaged because of nerve damage. She said she suffered a brain injury when she fell outside a supermarket and hit her head. She owns a bar but said it's sporadically open and closed. The employees live off tips, she told a judge.
Alex Toth, 58, said he is receiving Social Security disability income since he was injured in an automobile accident in 2000. He's also had a few previous tangles with the law; his record
includes passing bad checks and growing marijuana.
What happened to their winnings from Florida Lotto?
"All the money is gone. From family and kids and stuff, it's all gone," Alex Toth told U.S. Magistrate Thomas B. McCoun III. Outside the courthouse, Rhoda Toth said, "It was given away. It was gambled. It was both. We traveled. We went places most people will never see," places like Lake Tahoe.
"I'd give it all back to have us a little home, a little tin-can car to drive around," she said. "If I could reverse the time and go back, I would. It would be so much different." Assistant U.S. Attorney Dennis Moore told the judge, "We have no evidence that the defendants have any assets."
In 1996, Rhoda Toth had a public falling-out with her son, Steven Michael Moser. She accused him in court of threatening her after she stopped giving him money. She said Wednesday that she and her son have since patched things up. She said he tries to help her, but there's not much he can do with a wife and a new baby.
The couple said Rhoda sued Alex over control of the money. They worked it out, they said, and are still together. But none of his children talk to him. Rhoda Toth said when the money was rolling in, they gave one of her cousins a new house and a car. Now that they're broke, the cousin won't even return their calls. None of the people they helped are there for them now, she said.
The lottery money was supposed to be spread out over 20 years, but the couple said they sold the annuity to pay debts. Neighbors near their trailer on Brenda Street in Hudson said the couple has gotten electricity by leaving a car running and rigging it with an extension cord from the engine. "I can't imagine anybody living in those conditions in this day and age," Laura Fender, 78, who lives across the street. "I can understand people being very poor. I can't understand somebody winning the lottery and they can't have electricity and water. There's something screwy with that."
thanks Hurricane Dustin for highlighting this story on your blog
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