Lottery No Guarantee of Payment : Support: A man won $11.2 million, but his son later went on the welfare rolls. The father caught up on what he owed after narrowly avoiding jail.

One of the most extraordinary child support cases investigated by the Orange County district attorney’s office involves Amador Granados, who won $11.2 million in the state lottery in 1989, but nearly landed in jail when his child ended up on the welfare rolls.

The district attorney’s office investigates every case in which children receive county benefits. Granados came to their attention because the mother of Granados’ 6-year-old son began receiving payments from the Aid to Families with Dependent Children welfare program.

Granados’ attorney, Robert D. Coviello, says that for years, his client consistently paid child support and made gifts above and beyond the payments. But a bad business deal consumed most of his $403,200 in lottery earnings for 1993 and Granados fell into arrears, Coviello said.

Granados, a $6-dollar per hour landscaper before he hit the California Lotto, is in Mexico and could not be reached for comment, Coviello said.

In order to prosecute parents for failure to pay child support, the district attorney’s office first must establish criminal intent, said Jan Sturla, the deputy district attorney in charge of the county’s family support division. In this case, the fact that a millionaire had a child on welfare was enough.

Last year Granados pleaded guilty to failure to pay child support, but agreed to make up all arrears and maintain regular monthly payments, according to court documents. Since the county prosecuted him, Granados has set up a trust fund for his son that automatically disburses $3,500 a month to the mother, who also has three other children.

“He’s a very generous guy who is not necessarily financially sophisticated, and he got into some financial trouble after winning the lottery,” Coviello explained. “But he has always been willing to pay child support, and when we went to court, he never had a problem with paying what the county wanted him to pay.”

Before he won the lottery, Granados paid $210 per month in child support, Coviello said.

Sturla would not comment directly on the case, but said the state puts children ahead of business deals or travel. No man with access to thousands of dollars should fall behind on child support, for any reason, he said.

“The Legislature has made it clear that the primary obligation you have as a parent is to support your children according to your ability to do so,” he said. “Your obligation to your child is first, and if you feel you’re impairing your ability to support your child, then quite possibly you should rethink your business plans,” he said.

Granados finished paying about $42,000 in arrears in March, Coviello said.