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Iowa Lottery Identifies Mystery Powerball Winners

The Iowa Lottery has released the names of a group of factory workers who won a $241 million Powerball jackpot, the largest in state history.

Posted: 8:34 AM Jul 6, 2012
Reporter: WOWT & Associated Press

The Iowa Lottery has released the names of a group of factory workers who won a $241 million Powerball jackpot, the largest in state history.

Iowa Lottery CEO Terry Rich identified the so-called "Shipping 20" of Cedar Rapids on Friday, after they failed to file a court action to keep their names private. Rich says state law requires the Lottery to identify jackpot winners, and gave the Quaker Oats employees until Friday to file a legal challenge.

Most of them appeared at state lottery headquarters in June to turn in the winning ticket and celebrate at a news conference. But they only gave their first names and said they would seek a judge's order to maintain their privacy to avoid any hassles associated with their new fortune.

Rich said the lottery has had a long-standing suggestion that winners of major prizes seek legal and financial help before coming forward to claim the money. In this case, the group did that.

Iowa Lottery released the list of winners according to their home cities:

From Cedar Rapids: Tommy Campbell Sr., William Carnahan, Mike Hughes, Denise Hunt, Terry Koopman, David Morgan, Charles Shedek, Gregory Stearns and Rodney Tierney.

From Marion: Timothy Himmelsbach and Kelly Mulford.

From other eastern Iowa communities: Daniel Cantonwine of Vinton, Kenneth Cole of Fairfax, Robert Havlik of Toddville, Carol Kremer of Central City, Allen Miller of Shellsburg, Larry Nielsen of Walker, Brent Novak of Shellsburg, Jason Rauch of Ryan, and John Wharton of Keystone.