Untold Millions : Pearblossom Searches High and Low for Lost Lotto Ticket

PEARBLOSSOM â€”  Money problems are the talk of the town. But folks in this quiet desert hamlet southeast of Palmdale are not so much worried about the local real estate market or the dearth of jobs as they are about a $15-million pile of cash with no place to call home.

A little more than a month ago, someone bought a Quick-Pick lottery ticket in the Town & Country Market, a convenience store. If anyone knows who, they aren’t saying, because no one has turned in the winning ticket.

But in neighborhood bars and local schools, in four-table cafes and produce stands throughout this commuter town, residents chew on the idea of winning the big bucks, the strong taste of riches on their lips.

They reconstruct their actions on Jan. 19, the day the Lotto ticket was sold. They wonder if maybe, just maybe, they have the orange-and-white trifle stuffed in a jeans pocket, dumped in an ashtray, lost in a pile of bills.

Many have scoured their homes in search of the ticket. Others have called Town & Country, the only place in Pearblossom that sells lottery tickets, demanding to see the security videotape they say will prove that they bought the winner.

One guy even crawled through the market’s dumpster.

Twice.

No wonder: The winner will haul home $540,000 a year after taxes for the next 20 years.

“There are about 20 different rumors floating around about where that ticket is,� said Town & Country owner Mike Dorgalli. “Is it the schoolteacher who says she has it at home? Is it someone who was just passing through on their way to Las Vegas who forgot they even bought the ticket?

“Only God knows the truth, I guess.�

Maybe. But one of the rumors concerns Dorgalli himself. Dorgalli said he bought a ticket that morning, but won’t say what time and won’t say if it turned out to be the winner. Kevin Leasure, a Pearblossom construction worker, believes Dorgalli has the ticket locked in a safe somewhere, waiting for the suspense--and publicity for his store--to build.

When asked flat out if he had the ticket, Dorgalli turned suddenly serious. “I won’t confirm or deny that.� In any case, Dorgalli gets a $75,000 cut of the winnings--.5%--because he owns the store where the winning ticket was bought.

State lottery officials call the store about twice a week to ask if the winner has come forward. They don’t quite know what to make of the unclaimed ticket.

Only seven times in the 10-year history of the lottery has a winning ticket gone unclaimed, according to spokeswoman Norma Minas. Winners have 180 days to claim their prize. After that, the money goes to state schools, Minas said.

The ticket in question was bought between 9 and 10 a.m. with the numbers 6, 13, 22, 30, 44 and 48. About 200 to 300 tickets were sold at Town & Country that day, Dorgalli said, and about 75% of those were turned in as losers.

Down the road from the convenience store, at Cactus Kate’s Saloon, several construction workers lingered in the smoky bar as the rain kept them from the day’s toil.

“We bought a group ticket together for that jackpot,� said Mike Mauser, who lives three miles down the road in Littlerock. “When we heard, we ran over to see if it was us. It wasn’t. What can you do?�

Speculating is what most folks are doing. And dreaming.

Wanda Stumbaugh, a Town & Country clerk who may have sold the winning ticket, laughed at the suggestion that there was anything else to talk about. “Ha, are you kidding?� she said, turning up the country music on a portable radio as she helped the next customer.

She asked for a Lotto ticket.