From Lottery Millionaire to Bank Robber
Meet James Allen Hayes. He’s an elderly man and former security guard who is currently in prison for bank robberies. The relevant court in the US sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment on four counts of robbery and he is due to be out sometime in 2020. What happened to lead him to prison, you might ask? Well, the answer isn’t as obvious as one might think. It’s a combination of factors starting with James Allen Hayes lottery win and his drug addiction. Let’s look at the events that led to his imprisonment.
The Golden Years When the Luck Hit
It was 20 years ago, in 1998, when Hayes won $19 million from the California lottery. Hayes thought his life had changed forever. Paid in over 20 instalments worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, he started splurging. He purchased Lamborghinis, Porches, Harley Davidsons, condos, Rolexes and Persian rugs, among other things. Yet, his living conditions changed him. He soon got divorced from his first wife, Stephanie (who would take half of the lottery winnings in the divorce settlement). And he essentially traded her in for a ‘newer model’ also called Stephanie. He also started suffering from some back-pain problems due to herniated disks and had surgery. As a result, he started taking painkillers, although these wouldn’t really help him.
Eventually, he tried the more expensive version of painkillers in the form of heroin and this brought him relief for a period of 48 hours. He thought he had found his answer to managing his pain, but soon thereafter became severely addicted. His drug addiction, in addition to a poor childhood, were some of the mitigating factors the court heard about his character when sentencing him later.
The Worst Years and The Robberies
Becoming poor once again and resorting to living in a garage with his new wife, Hayes one day had the epiphany of robbing a bank. He had listened to a song that, according to him, made him make up his mind to break the law. He started planning the robberies and began in various areas of Los Angeles. Although he was convicted for only four robberies, he undertook over 10. Police officers had dubbed him the ‘seasoned bandit’ due to his advanced age and silver hair. He would apparently pass a note to bank tellers demanding cash, adding that he had a gun. He got away with just under $40,000. He was 55 when he undertook his first bank robbery, prior to which he described the feeling as having an angel and a devil on each shoulder.
“The angel was saying, ‘Don’t do it. You could go to prison for 20 years.’ And the devil was saying, ‘It’s Friday. You’re broke. Are you really gonna go the whole weekend without drugs, you loser?’”
The Aftermath After the Bust
Writing from jail, once a millionaire and now simply known as James Allen Hayes bank robber, says he is now clean of heroin and has been for the last eight months. He added that he has started working on his spiritual side and making art. Upon his release in 2020, he plans to publish a book detailing his experience of winning the lottery to his eventual downfall.
James Allen Hayes says he now contemplates what he did with regret and wonders what would have happened if his wife was the bank teller, as she is actually a bank employee. Hayes says he has learned a lot and once out, is looking forward to living a life that isn’t high profile or very chaotic, but rather one which is “rather dull.”
Hayes is Not Alone
Hayes is not alone in the ordeal of the lottery curse. Many others have been through similar experiences with some even dying in the process. We will only outline several examples here for your information:
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- Abraham Shakespeare: he won $30 million in Florida’s lottery in 2009 but was found buried in a grave under a concrete slab less than three years later. He was murdered by a woman who had befriended him and who had offered to help him manage his winnings. She was sentenced to life in prison.
- Deborah McDonald: she won just over $5500 in a lottery and had decided to purchase wedding rings for her and her husband. The 47-year-old was run over and killed after celebrating with friends at a bar.
- Jeffrey Dampier: Dampier won an Illinois lottery jackpot of $20 million in 1996. Nearly 10 years later, he was murdered by his sister-in-law and her boyfriend.
- Doris Murray: this 42-year-old won $5 million from the lottery in 2007. Her initial intentions were to start a trust fund for her grandchildren. However, she was found stabbed to death in her home.
- Billie Bob Harrell Jr: he won $31 million on the Texas Lotto jackpot in June 1997. His bad luck happened shortly after his win when he ended up divorcing his wife and committing suicide two years later.
- Evelyn Basehore: She won $3.9 million in 1985 and then a further $1.4 million in the same game five months later. Her gambling habits and her financial assistance to her friends saw her move to a trailer park in 2000.
- Janite Lee: This 52-year-old South Korean immigrant won $18 million in 1993. Although she made a donation to Washington University in St. Louis, her gambling problems led to her losing the money and she eventually filed for bankruptcy in 2001.
Some winners and these ones aren’t famous for a reason, have had much better luck with their winnings, investing their money wisely in sound businesses. A select portion of these individuals has requested anonymity with their wins simply because they want to avoid the lottery curse. Some suggestions have been made that lottery winners should be taught a course on how to handle their money before it is disbursed to them. We think this is a sound idea, especially as most winners don’t appear to have a strong financial background and could simply deteriorate in their standard of living later on as the money they’ve won gets spent and gradually decreases.
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