The Region - News from Nov. 29, 1985

“Crime doesn’t pay--unless you play the California Lottery,” state Sen. William Campbell (R-Hacienda Heights) said in announcing that he will sponsor legislation to prevent a prisoner from being temporarily released from custody to participate in the spin of a wheel to win the lottery’s grand prizes. He labeled “absurd in the extreme” the temporary release from the Orange County Jail of Salvador Valencia Rodriguez, who won $50,000 in the wheel spin Monday. Rodriguez, 20, then returned to court to plead guilty to charges of stealing a bicycle and possessing marijuana. He then went back to jail to finish serving sentences for earlier theft and drug convictions. Campbell said his legislation, to be introduced when the Legislature meets again in January, would prohibit any prisoner from being released to participate in the lottery. He said his measure also would ban the practice of allowing people in custody to designate an alternate to spin the wheel for them.