Robber on probation can keep $1M jackpot

By MATT PITTA, Associated Press Writer
Fri Jan 18, 1:17 PM ET

BARNSTABLE, Mass. - The luck keeps rolling for a convicted bank robber who won a $1 million lottery prize: Though he violated his probation by buying the ticket, a judge says he can keep the money.

A lawyer for Timothy Elliott, 55, called the violation minor, and the Massachusetts lottery commission previously has said there was no basis for withdrawing the prize.

Barnstable Superior Court Judge Richard Connon on Friday approved the probation department's agreement that he could keep the winnings. The only change is that Elliott now must pay a monthly $65 probation supervisory fee, previously waived because he had been indigent.

Elliott declined to comment Friday. He lives in Bourne under the supervision of the Department of Mental Health.

Probation department spokeswoman Coria Holland would not comment further on the case.

In October 2006, Elliott pleaded guilty to unarmed robbery for a heist at a bank on Cape Cod and was placed on five years' probation. The terms required him to not "gamble, purchase lottery tickets or visit an establishment where gaming is conducted ..."

The jackpot was won on $10 ticket for the "$800 Million Spectacular" game that Elliott bought at a supermarket in Hyannis. He already has received the first of 20 annual $50,000 checks from the lottery commission.