Karrie Jeremiah pulled a discarded lottery ticket from a restaurant trash can and hit the jackpot.

 

 

 

Two other people had purchased the $5 Hoosier Lottery scratch-off ticket last week at the Chaperral Cafe. When a clerk at the downtown cafe told them it wasn't the $40 winner they were hoping for, they threw it away, lottery officials said.

 

 

It wasn't a $40 winner ?? it was a $100,000 winner.

 

 

Jeremiah, a customer at the store, said she wondered whether the numbers were completely checked before the ticket was tossed.

 

 

"Who would ever throw this ticket in the trash knowing it was a $100,000 hit?" she said.

 

 

Lottery security director Ellen Corcella said the cafe clerk had not checked for any winning combinations other than for $40.

 

 

Lottery officials on Feb. 10 issued Jeremiah a check for $71,600 ?? the amount after taxes were withheld.

 

 

Corcella said the lottery was looking into the circumstances surrounding the ticket, but believed Jeremiah was the rightful winner.

 

 

"If I drop $100,000 in the street and walk away and the next person picks it up, it's their money," she said.

Wow, talk about good luck!