'Lucky' Powerball Winner To Jail?

Officials planned to seek the man who won almost $315 million in a Powerball drawing on a bail violation charge after he was arrested on a DUI count in another county.

Kanawha County Magistrate Tim Halloran ordered Jack Whittaker's arrest on Thursday, two days after Whittaker was charged with driving under the influence near Beckley, in southern West Virginia's Raleigh County.

The magistrate said that arrest violated a condition of a $150 bond from a January DUI arrest in Nitro.

A bail violation could send Whittaker to jail for 10 days, "especially when he's out on bail for DUI and he's arrested for DUI," prosecutor Mike Clifford said.

"My concern is not that he needs to be in jail, my concern is he ought not to be driving," Clifford said.

Whittaker's attorney, Norm Daniels, did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment Friday. Officials in Whittaker's home county, Putnam, said they can't take Whittaker into custody until they get the needed paperwork from Kanawha County.

Whittaker had spent Wednesday morning in jail on the Beckley charge and was released after posting a $1,700 cash bond.

Whittaker won the largest single jackpot in the nation's history when he hit a $314.9 million Powerball jackpot on Christmas Day 2002. He chose to accept a lump sum of about $113 million after taxes.

The DUI arrest was the latest in a series of incidents involving Whittaker since he took home the largest single jackpot ever.

Whittaker's vehicle, business and home have allegedly been broken into multiple times.

The body of 18-year-old Jesse Joe Tribble was found at Whittaker's home in September. Tribble's death was not a crime and Whittaker was out of town at the time.

Last year, a strip club manager and his girlfriend were charged with drugging Whittaker and stealing a briefcase containing more than $500,000 in cash and cashier's checks. The money was recovered.

Last March, within three days, his business was broken into and $2,000 was taken, and his vehicle, parked at his home, was broken into and property was stolen. Earlier in that week, Whittaker was sued by an employee of the Tri-State Racetrack & Gaming Center who alleged he assaulted her in March 2003.

Last year, he was also charged with threatening to kill the manager of a bar and with drunken driving.