Jul 23, 2009, 23:57 GMT
New York/Toronto - For Canadian Barry Shell, the 4 million dollars was worth a night in jail.
Shell showed up at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp delighted to claim his win earlier this week, only to be pulled aside by detective Kevin Finley and informed he was under arrest.
'I hate to wreck your happy dance,' Finley told Shell, according to the Toronto Star on Thursday.
Shell had several out-standing warrants from 2003 for theft of cameras, global positioning systems, memory cards and watches. His name came up in a routine check of lottery winners, according to the report.
But after delivering the bad news, Finley let Shell go pick up his cheque before taking him into custody.
The 45-year-old lottery winner was not all that upset. 'I'm still kind of in shock that I won this money, so it's not a big deal that I have to spend the night in jail,' he said.
Instead of dancing, he had a 'happy cigarette,' Finley said.
Shell was released Tuesday on bail of 1,500 dollars and must return to court July 30.
He made his living as a carpenter, owned no car and lived in a basement apartment, the Star reported.
When he bought his lottery ticket on Sunday, he had 50 cents in his pocket.
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