Marvin Rosales Martinez: Poor Man, Rich Man

Superstorm Sandy was the most destructive and deadliest storm that hit North America during the Atlantic hurricane season in 2012, with repair and rehabilitation in several areas still ongoing. New York was just one of the many areas severely affected by Storm Sandy. But for Marvin Rosales Martinez, a New York landscaper, the storm brought him huge blessings. Today, over a year after his “buried treasure find” under the leaves, he will definitely have the best New Year of his life.

Treasure under the leaves

Mr. Matinez was cleaning debris brought by Storm Sandy in Long Island, New York. While using his leaf blower, he chanced upon a piece of paper buried under the leaves. It was damp but it was a scratch-off ticket for a “Win S1,000 a Week for Life” lottery. He never imagined that this would become the instrument to change his life.

Twenty-seven year old Rosales Martinez lives in Hicksville, Long Island and works as a landscaper. He lives with his mother, and their house, like most of the smaller houses in the area, was also ravaged by Storm Sandy. He found the winning lottery ticket under a pile of storm-strewn leaves he was removing. That was in October 2012. He first brought the ticket to a 7-Eleven outlet but the store was not able to verify the ticket because power was not yet restored. He finally brought the ticket to the lottery office’s Long Island Customer Service Center on the 9th of November that year and received confirmation that it was indeed a winning lottery ticket. From there it went through the standard practice of internal security investigation to verify the ticket’s authenticity and validity as well as ticket ownership.

A year after

A lottery ticket is a bearer instrument, according to Mr. Lee Park, a spokesman for the lottery company. It can be converted to cash by the person holding it after careful investigation. Through their investigation, they found no reason to believe that Mr. Rosales was not the rightful owner of the ticket. Likewise there was no report of a misplaced or stolen lottery ticket.

Therefore, after the standard waiting period of one year, and because no one came forward, they finally awarded the lottery price to Marvin Rosales Martinez.

Final winning

So, on December 27 Mr. Martinez got his prize, together with five other lottery winners from New York. Instead of receiving $1,000 weekly, he opted to receive the whole prize in a one-time payment. His total winnings amounted to $779,106, although after withholding tax deductions, he will only take home $515,612. That’s still not a bad deal, for a hidden treasure found under the leaves.

Mr. Martinez told lottery officials he would be sharing his jackpot prize with his family. This is good news indeed. It is a new beginning, a blessing to share and such a good way to usher in the New Year.

Photo Credit: New York Lottery Logo