Winner of $111 Million Won’t Say When He’ll Claim Prize

Les Robins is back home in his one-bedroom apartment, $111 million richer but still unwilling to say when he’ll claim--or how he’ll spend--the lottery jackpot he won last week.

The 30-year-old English teacher, who answered the door at his Main Street apartment Friday, said his attorneys have ordered him to keep quiet about the money for now.

“We would like to say more but until the lawyers give the OK, we can’t,” said his fiancee, Colleen De Vries.

But Robins took issue with some media accounts that he and De Vries, 24, went into hiding after learning that he held the winning ticket in the July 7 Powerball lottery drawing.

“We have not been hiding,” he said. “We have been here since Monday.”

After the drawing, Robins and De Vries flew to Tampa, Fla., where Robins’ parents live. Later, they visited an undisclosed location on Florida’s Gulf Coast to escape the hordes of reporters, well-wishers and opportunists who had begun following them around.

Back at home, Robins said it hadn’t been decided when he would turn in his winning ticket, the first step toward claiming about $3.5 million a year (after taxes) for the next 20 years.

He has 180 days to claim the prize, the largest jackpot won by an individual in U.S. history.