Sunday, November 25, 2007

Take the money and run



Donna Campbell, 47, of Miami FL, began to be a bit suspicious of her husband, Arnim Ramdass. It began with his new habits of disconnecting their phone line and keeping the television off all the time. The final clue was the postcard she found when she was going through the mail one day. That card stated simply, "Congratulations on your new house."

According to Campbell's attorney, Brian Baldwin, Ramdass had spent marital money for years on buying lottery tickets and at casinos, always losing. Campbell had decided to go online and check lottery winners because Ramdass was a habitual player. She found out then that he had been part of a winning $19 million jackpot this summer and had been hiding it from her.

Campbell and Ramdass, an American Airlines mechanic at Miami Airport had married in 2005 after dating for five years. She knew that he and his co-workers always pooled their money to purchase lottery tickets. On June 20, they collected $220 and went to a Pinecrest Kwik-Stop to buy quick-pick tickets. The group of mechanics had the winning $19 million ticket and the 17 winners opted for a lump sum payment of $10.2 million, which meant that each would receive approximately $600,000 before taxes.

It was after Campbell had found the postcard and checked online that she confronted Ramdass by asking him if there was anything he wanted to share for news with her. He said no until she asked about the lottery winning. It was at that point that Ramdass claimed that he had bought the ticket for his daughter from another marriage who lived in Orlando. Campbell wasn't buying that story she claims because he had never in all his years, ever bought that daughter a ticket that she knew of.

Ramdass has taken the money and ran it seems now. His co-workers stated that he has taken a leave of absence from work which the airline won't confirm due to employee privacy. He has not shown up at the couples Miramar, Silver Lakes home and process servers haven't been able to find him to serve him the lawsuit papers. In addition to that, attempts to reach his 24 year-old daughter in Orlando haven't been successful even though messages have been left for her on both her home phone and cell phone.

I am sure that Ramdass will show up in not too long though...... if his record of losing holds true, he should be broke fairly soon and will surface again. The $600,000 before taxes isn't a lot of money and if he really is such a habitual gambler, I am sure it will be gone very rapidly.

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