Lottery Winner Loses as Court Tallies His Debts
Joseph M. Frontino thought he had won $10,000 Oct. 28 when he spun the state’s “Big Spin” lottery wheel.
But he went home from court Tuesday empty-handed after Superior Court Commissioner Carver E. Honn formally divided up the winnings.
His former wife, Karrie Ellen Larsen of San Luis Obispo, received $3,000 for previously unpaid child support for their 14-year-old daughter, and two counties got reimbursed for welfare payments: Riverside County got $3,000 and Butte County got $2,000. The federal government also took a $2,000 chunk for income taxes.
Frontino, 33, won the money in the state’s first “Big Spin,” but Riverside County prosecutors got a court order and the court held the winnings until the ruling Tuesday. He owed $11,600 in child support and welfare reimbursements, prosecutors said.
“(Larsen) is going to get a $3,000 Christmas present,” said Riverside County Assistant Dist. Atty. John L. Replogle III. “She knows and she is ecstatic.”
Frontino won as well, in a way, Replogle said.
“He’s getting more out of debt than he was before,” the prosecutor said.
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