Date Published: Sat, 01/19/2008
By Patrick Cassidy
STAFF WRITER
January 19, 2008
BARNSTABLE — A two-time bank robber who violated his probation when he bought a $1 million-winning lottery ticket gets to keep the money and stay out of jail.
At a probation surrender hearing yesterday, Barnstable Superior Court Judge Richard Connon found Timothy Elliott, 55, violated probation conditions that prohibited him from gambling. Connon ordered Elliott to pay $65 a month as a probation supervision fee but did not otherwise penalize the convicted bank robber.
The fee is standard, but before he won the lottery money, Elliott had said he could not afford to pay it. Connon ordered that Elliott must pay the fee retroactive to Nov. 23, the day he bought the lucky ticket at the Stop & Shop on Independence Drive in Hyannis.
Elliott collected the first $50,000 installment of his winnings on Nov. 27. After taxes, the 20 annual payments will come to about $35,000 a year.
“He’s back on track,” Elliott’s attorney, Drew Segadelli, said after yesterday’s hearing.
Elliott pleaded guilty to robbing the Main Street branch of Cape Cod Bank and Trust in February 2001, then the Rockland Trust Bank just down the road in January 2006.
After he violated his probation in those cases, the court imposed more conditions and he was ordered into the care of Taunton State Hospital, a psychiatric institution.
He was not allowed to “gamble, purchase lottery tickets, or visit establishments where gaming is conducted including restaurants where Keno may be played,” according to conditions of his five-year-probation.
His past convictions and probation made international headlines when he won the lottery and was summonsed to court.
Elliott also has had to face delinquent alimony and child support payments that came to light after his story made headlines. He owes $37,900 to his ex-wife from a 1979 divorce judgment, according to Nantucket court documents.
That case, too, is resolved, Segadelli said. Elliott has been ordered to pay $10,000 to his ex-wife this year and $5,000 in successive years until the amount owed to his ex-wife is paid in full, Segadelli said.
Besides the probation supervision fee, Elliott must continue to adhere to all other probation conditions previously imposed on him, Connon said.
Elliott must also remain in compliance with requirements of the state Department of Mental Health.
“Truth be told, this was more of a media circus,” Segadelli said of the case. The implication in some news stories that Elliott could lose his lottery winnings was absurd, the lawyer said.
Lottery officials will do whatever the court instructs them to do in the case, said Dan Rosenfeld, spokesman for the state Lottery Commission.
“I’m just pleased that any and all of his court issues as it relates to Barnstable Superior and Nantucket are behind him,” Segadelli said.
Elliott declined to comment before he entered the courtroom yesterday.
Patrick Cassidy can be reached at pcassidy@capecodonline.com.
Article taken from http://www.capecodonline.com