A man displays his Powerball lottery numbers after buying a ticket at a convenience store in Miami, November 2, 2022.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP Photo
A woman was accused of falsely claiming to win the Powerball jackpot — the third largest ever won.
Video footage shows the woman crying with joy at the LA store that sold the winning ticket.
But the granddaughter of the store owner said the winner has yet to come forward.
A woman who claimed to be the winner of the $1.08 billion Powerball jackpot was lying, according to the granddaughter of the owner of the store where the ticket was sold, the Daily Mail reported.
Sarai Palacios, the granddaughter of Nabor Herrera, who owns Las Palmitas Mini Market near LA’s Skid Row, told the Mail that the woman hadn’t won the jackpot.
“I’m not sure why she did that. I guess she just wanted to be on TV,” Palacios said.
“We don’t know who the winner is yet. They still haven’t come forward,” she added.
California Lottery confirmed on Thursday that the store had sold the winning ticket, which is the third-largest Powerball jackpot — and the sixth-largest US lottery jackpot — ever won.
The unidentified woman entered the downtown store on Friday, crying and responding “yes” to a reporter who asked if she’d won a ticket before abruptly exiting the store and getting into a car, according to a video shared by Inside Edition.
In the full video, the woman can be heard saying, “I’m scared right now. I’m so scared.” She then hugs people in the store before stating, “I need to find him,” and fleeing, according to the Daily Mail.
Herrera, who said he wasn’t aware that his store had sold the winning ticket until he arrived there on Thursday, told the channel that he thought the woman’s claim was “fake” as he didn’t recognize her.
The store owner will receive a reward of $1 million for selling the ticket. He told K-CAL News he planned to use some of the winnings to take his family on vacation.
The $1 billion winnings followed 38 consecutive draws where no one won the jackpot. Californian Edwin Castro won a record $2 billion Powerball Jackpot last year, with a ticket purchased 13 miles from Herrera’s store, the Mail reported.