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WGOLV.COM - A woman in Pennsylvania misplaced a winning $2.5 million lottery ticket after leaving it in a jacket she donated to charity.
Mildred Simoneriluto, 76, is racing against time to recover her lost prize.
If she doesn’t locate the physical ticket by May 8, she will forfeit the jackpot.
Simoneriluto initially purchased a Cash 5 lottery ticket at a grocery store in Murrysville in May 2024. She was astonished to find out she had won, but couldn’t locate the ticket itself, which Pennsylvania Lottery officials stated was necessary to claim the prize.
In her frantic attempt to retrace her steps, Simoneriluto remembered placing the ticket in her jacket, which she had since donated to Vietnam Veterans of America, a charity that distributes collected items globally.
“I was stupefied; there are no words for it, there’s no expression. How can I get it back?” Simoneriluto told WTAE.
To complicate things further, Simoneriluto mentioned that she placed the ticket in her jacket pocket to avoid forgetting it initially.
She has visited the grocery store where she bought the ticket several times, but the staff consistently told her there was nothing more they could do to assist.
Simoneriluto has memorized the winning numbers: 14, 22, 33, 35, and 38.
Now, others are also checking their own jacket pockets, just in case it appears there.
“What else can I do? Cry out loud and hope that something will happen positive on my end?” she lamented.
Prayers that she finds her ticket in time..
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