Lottery Winner to Pay Nearly $1 Million to Woman He Attacked

A California lottery winner who was convicted of sexually attacking a Ventura woman has agreed to pay her and her husband nearly $1 million--about a sixth of his jackpot--in an out-of-court settlement reached this week, attorneys said Tuesday.

The case pitted Raymond Wilson, a 20-year-old fast-food worker, against Ben and Becky Rasnick, a young couple with two children. The Rasnicks filed the civil suit last August after Wilson was convicted of attempted rape and sentenced to a year in the Ventura County Jail. They contended the sentence was too lenient.

Wilson was living in Santa Monica on Oct. 12, 1988, when he won a $5.86-million jackpot in the lottery. He has since bought a house in Tarzana.

The settlement agreement entitles the Rasnicks to $150,000 this year and $140,000 annually for the next six years, according to the attorneys involved. The Rasnicks declined to comment Tuesday. But in the past, the couple said they would use the money to fight what they consider moral ills, such as abortion and pornography.

Wilson and his mother--who bought the ticket but gave it to her son--will be left with about $3.7 million of their winnings after taxes, collectible over 20 years, according to Wilson’s attorney, James M. Farley of Ventura.

Farley criticized the Rasnicks’ lawsuit as motivated by greed rather than a desire for justice. “I think it stinks because I don’t believe the woman was injured in that amount,” Farley said. He has argued that Wilson’s lottery winnings could pay for the expensive psychiatric treatment that he needed but was unable previously to afford.

Farley said he was “extremely upset” about the settlement but agreed to it rather than go through with a trial and risk an even higher award by a jury. Wilson is still serving his jail sentence and is scheduled for release in April.

Becky Rasnick, a 28-year-old church youth counselor, was jogging near her home when she encountered Wilson in a truck on Jan. 21, 1989. Although he pleaded guilty to attempted rape, Wilson has maintained that he never meant to rape or otherwise hurt her but to masturbate over her. He panicked when she began screaming, he said.

However, Rasnick said Wilson chased her, dragged her into a ditch and tried to remove her clothes. He also tried to choke her, she said, adding that she began to black out and believed she was dying. When a passing vehicle distracted Wilson, she escaped and was driven home by two women.

According to court records, Wilson has been a chronic voyeur since he was sexually abused by a male baby-sitter at the age of 4 or 5. He dropped out of high school, although he obtained a high-school equivalency degree, and held a series of menial, low-paying jobs.

Farley said Wilson will probably receive counseling through a county agency while paying the Rasnicks, then attempt to switch to private treatment.