St. Louis city employees claim $70 million Powerball jackpot

Jul 30, 2015, 11:21 am (16 comments)

Powerball

St. Louis' newest millionaires are two city employees who bought a winning Powerball ticket this month.

Tom Rea, a building maintenance supervisor for the city's department of corrections and his wife, Catherine Ruggeri-Rea, the city's courts administrator, were announced as the winners of a $70 million jackpot at a news conference Wednesday morning.

Rea, 62, has worked for the city for 40 years. Ruggeri-Rea, 61, has been the city's courts administrator for nearly 10 years.

Rea bought the ticket at a St. Louis Hills gas station on July 4. He said he later returned there to scan the ticket to see if it was a winner and couldn't believe when it said he'd won. He asked an employee to double-check.

"You won, sir, you won the big money," he remembers her telling him.

Rea said that before the lottery win he had visited a Bentley dealership with his wife to fantasize about one day owning one. After scanning the ticket, he called her and asked "What color Bentley do you want?" and told her they'd won the lottery.

Ruggeri-Rea, who was on crutches because she'd broken her heel, said she told him, "If you are lying to me, I will hit you over the head with my crutch."

The $70 million jackpot is the ninth-largest ever won in Missouri. The last time someone won a big Powerball jackpot in Missouri was Nov. 8, 2014. That winner, a woman from Texas, won $202 million after buying her ticket at Union Station in St. Louis.

The business that sold this month's winning ticket, a Gas Mart at 6901 Hampton Avenue near Loughborough Avenue, will receive a $50,000 bonus.

The winning numbers were 3, 6, 14, 18, and 24, with Powerball number 21. The drawing was, appropriately enough, on Independence Day.

The couple chose to take a lump-sum payment of $42.7 million instead of the $70 million in installments.

The St. Louis Hills couple, who have no children, are still making plans for how they'll use the money. Rea, who is on vacation this week, said he wasn't sure if he'd return to work. Ruggeri-Rea said she wanted to finish up a couple of big projects and would stay in her job until October.

Ruggeri-Rea was appointed to the courts administrator position by Mayor Francis Slay in 2006. She doesn't make the news much in that role, but she did come under some scrutiny in 2012 for paying her brother $2,250 for "emergency" accounting work without a contract. She said emergency help was needed to get the court's financial books in order after staffers left. At the time, Slay's administration said she didn't follow procedures but didn't break any law. The threshold for a competitive bidding process is $5,000.

News story photo(Click to display full-size in gallery)

Thanks to lele100 for the tip.

STLtoday, Lottery Post Staff

Comments

lele100

Congrats and what a wonderful husband! 

music*'s avatarmusic*

Congratulation to Tom & Cathy.  Spend wisely guys.Love

mikeintexas's avatarmikeintexas

No children?  Adopt me!

Even though a Bentley (Continental GT, what I would want if I could afford one w/out worrying about the price) can be $250K (more-or-less), I don't blame 'em.  If I ever win, my BMW purchase won't seem so extravagant.

hearsetrax's avatarhearsetrax

Quote: Originally posted by mikeintexas on Jul 30, 2015

No children?  Adopt me!

Even though a Bentley (Continental GT, what I would want if I could afford one w/out worrying about the price) can be $250K (more-or-less), I don't blame 'em.  If I ever win, my BMW purchase won't seem so extravagant.

Green laughcouple of high end sports cars would be on my list ...

but I think above all would be my kustom RV that started life as a

Stewart & Stevenson M1083A1 MTV 6x6 Cargo Truck from Uncle Sam's toy box

 

maringoman's avatarmaringoman

Missouri and Illinois keep the Midwest on the jackpot map. Nice

rcbbuckeye's avatarrcbbuckeye

Quote: Originally posted by maringoman on Jul 31, 2015

Missouri and Illinois keep the Midwest on the jackpot map. Nice

MM was won in Missouri last night.

maringoman's avatarmaringoman

Yes I just saw that. I'm glad that people are still hitting the JP even when it's low. MUSL's plan to make it harder to win isn't working so well for them.

CDanaT's avatarCDanaT

I sorta like the part about hitting the old man over the head if he was lying   Green laughCongrats to you both ....enjoy and have fun !!!

MzDuffleBaglady's avatarMzDuffleBaglady

PartyI'm happy for their win,

Congratulations.

I went to that gas station, like maybe 3 days before he did, lmaoooooooooooooooooo

But, I don't play Powerball that much, every now and again.

 

I think I'll go there later and buy some quick picks, just because, lmaooooooooo.

MzDuffleBaglady's avatarMzDuffleBaglady

Missouri always has a lot of jackpot winners for all games.

psykomo's avatarpsykomo

  "BIG" Congrat'$ 2U>>>>T & C cause these 3-6-14-18-24 + 21 Scared RD 

 kind of NUMBERS that will BLOW UR MIND everyTIME    PukeScared   Puke

                                 Party US Flag  Party

                                                                                      Happy 4th of July 2015

                                                                     Happy Labor Day 2015

                                                                     Happy Halloween 2015

                                                                     Happy Thanksgiving Day 2015

                                                                     Happy Chanukah 2015

                                                                    Merry Christmas Noel2015 Noel

                                                                                                               Idea was it a Quick Pick?   Idea was it a U Pick? 

psykomo's avatarpsykomo

      PartyHyper TODAY'$ YOUR DAY Hyper Party

     $110 million Powerball jackpot could be your "ticket" to TRUMP status or HILL status if you can't afford some of the things they "ENJOY every DAY"

sully16's avatarsully16

Congrats to the lucky winners.

psykomo's avatarpsykomo

                                                                           Pro bono

                                                                    If you ever gona see

                                                                    A rainbow, you gotta

                                                                     stand a "little" rain.

  $ 110 million Powerbal jackpot got hit 7-1-15 by some LUCKY somewon. " Another won bites D dust" ......CONGRAT'  $

                                                                    7-13-24-48-57 + 15

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