Gerrard Kaonga
A lottery winner’s life got turned upside down for years after what should have been the best moment of her life.
Winning the lottery is essentially a dream of anyone with money issues or people who work a job they’d rather not... so a wholeeee lot of people.
You would think if you won a couple million dollars you would be living on easy street from then on, because while money doesn’t solve every problem, there are quite a few problems that go away if you throw enough money at it.
Well, that certainly wouldn’t apply to one unfortunate waitress in Florida who had her life go through a whirlwind after winning $10m in the Florida lottery.
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Tonda Dickerson ended up being sued multiple times by different parties, was kidnapped and was even forced to shoot her ex-husband.
But let’s back up and go to the beginning.
Back on March 7 in 1999, Dickerson, in her late 20s, was working as a waitress at a Grand Bay Waffle House and happened to be serving one of the regular visitors Edward Seward.
As a tip, Seward would regularly leave a lottery ticket, all normal enough.
But on this one fateful day he ended up leaving a ticket that won $10 million for Dickerson.
But the next few years would see her life spiral out of control.
Firstly, Dickerson’s colleagues took legal action against her claiming that any winnings from tickets would be shared equally among the staff, however, Dickerson believed it belonged to her.
In 1999, a jury decided against the waitress and her colleagues even claimed that she initially had a plan to share the winnings. Dickerson even turned down a settlement offer that would see her given $3 million.
She eventually appealed the decision in 2000 to Alabama Supreme Court and they reversed the decision, saying that any agreement with the Waffle House waitresses was unenforceable under Alabama law.
In 2002, Seward - yep, the man that tipped Dickerson the ticket - tried to take her to court. He claimed that the pair had an agreement she would buy him a new truck if she won, however, a Mobile County Circuit Judge threw the case out.
Not long after this decision, Dickerson’s ex husband, Stacy Martin, attempted to kidnap her and repeatedly claimed he would kill her as they drove to Highway 90 into Jackson County, where he took her to the boat launch at Bayou Heron.
After her phone rang, she convinced Martin to let her answer it, going into her purse to pull out a gun and shot him in the chest. After being shot, Dickerson convinced her ex to seek medical attention and the pair headed to a hospital and police were called when he arrived.
However, it is not clear whether Martin was ever charged or convicted for the kidnapping and the threats against her.
It is not clear what Dickerson is up to now, but is believed to be working a poker dealer at the Golden Nugget casino in Biloxi, according to her social media profiles.