STAFF REPORTER
Some guys have all the luck.
That's what Barry Shell of Brampton likely thought Monday when he went to pick up his nearly $4.4 million jackpot at Ontario Lottery and Gaming headquarters on Dundas St. W.
But after a smiling Shell, 45, had posed for an OLG photo holding his cheque for $4,377,298, he was arrested outside the building on outstanding criminal charges and taken into police custody.
Instead of escaping to a five-star getaway, he was kept overnight and appeared in a Brampton courtroom yesterday on charges of failing to appear, theft under $5,000 and possession of property obtained by crime.
A warrant for his arrest was issued after Shell failed to show up for a 2003 court date.
Const. Adam Minnion of Peel police said: "The OPP contacted Peel police and said, 'This person is wanted on an outstanding warrant, would you like to return for him?' "
Peel police said they'd go and get him, Minnion said.
Asked how a lottery win could result in the discovery of outstanding warrants, Rui Brum from OLG said last night: "A rigorous investigation process is followed any time a prize is claimed.
"Any flags that are raised are immediately forwarded to the OPP Bureau attached to the AGCO (the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario) for further investigation."
In an OLG press release announcing Shell's win, he is quoted as saying: "I went to the store and checked my ticket on the self-serve ticket checker.
"As soon as I saw how much I had won, I grabbed a pen and signed my ticket."
He had bought the winning ticket at a Petro Canada on Kennedy Rd. N. in Brampton.
The OLG press release concludes: "The 45-year-old has no immediate plans for the windfall."
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