Man loses $25,000 winning lottery ticket...

A guy lost a winning lottery ticket worth $25,000. Mike Sargent lost a scratch-off ticket moments after he realized he'd hit the jackpot and, through several incredible coincidences, found it days later.

Sargent, a 51-year-old facilities specialist at AT&T, bought the winning Wheel of Fortune instant ticket on Nov. 15, scratching it off as he stood at the counter of the Venus Food Mart in his hometown of Alvarado, about 25 miles south of Fort Worth. He signed the ticket on the spot, filling in his name and address.

By the time he drove the three miles home, however, the ticket was gone.

"I was thinking that God just took it out of my hand," he said.

Sargent went back to the store, but the clerk was sure he'd left with the ticket. He and a friend from church spent the rest of the night searching the fields along the Highway.

The search continued for days. Friends combed the fields and roadside ditches, while Sargent and his neighbor sifted through the convenience store's trash bins.

He posted signs and even called a local radio station offering a $2,000 reward for the return of his ticket.

Finally, five days after he lost the ticket, Sargent got a call from Gerardo Ruiz, a water meter reader from Midlothian who found it while working five houses down from the store.

Ruiz hadn't seen the signs or heard Sargent on the radio. And his first thought wasn't to give the ticket back.

"I went home and I showed my wife and I said 'Look, Jesus gave us a $25,000 ticket,' " Ruiz recalled. "She said, 'Well you better call that guy, maybe you can get a reward, because God is going to punish you if you don't return it.' "

When Ruiz asked for $2,500, Sargent didn't hesitate. He visited eight banks before he found one willing to give him a cash advance on his credit card, then he paid Ruiz, took back the ticket and immediately wrote a $1,750 check to his church.

His saga wasn't over, however. Between the time Sargent signed the ticket and when he got it back, his signature was partially scratched off; Ruiz speculated it happened when he stepped on the ticket with heavy work boots.

When Sargent took the ticket to the Texas Lottery's claims center, officials told him they couldn't immediately honor a defaced ticket. He'd have to wait six to eight weeks for them to conduct forensic tests.

He’s lucky to have even found the ticket at all… let alone someone graciously returned the ticket to him! Article here.