Postman wins $1,000 a week from lottery

Jasper Ingram of Chesapeake delivers the mail for a living. Last Friday, Virginia Lottery officials delivered to him the first of many checks he will receive from them.

Ingram, 59, won the Virginia Lottery's Win For Life game, which will pay him $1,000 per week for the rest of his life. Only the Mega Millions game offers a bigger payout among the more than 50 games of chance operated by the Virginia Lottery. Ingram is the 18th person in Virginia to win the game since it debuted in February 2006. Lottery players in Kentucky and Georgia also play in the Win For Life contest.

Ingram said he has no immediate plans for how he will use the money, and he has not yet decided when he will retire from the U.S. Postal Service. He retired from the Navy in 1989 and has worked for the Postal Service for the last 18 years, walking almost 10 miles per day on a Norfolk route in the Little Creek area.

Ingram said he usually spends $10 to $15 each week on lottery tickets, playing the Win For Life and Mega Millions games. He said he won $5,000 twice about five years ago and won $600 six months ago playing the lottery, but nothing compares to his Feb. 29 payday.

The $1,000 per week is actually paid out quarterly by lottery officials. Those $13,000 checks every three months will be subject to 25 percent in federal taxes and 4 percent in state taxes, according to Virginia Lottery Executive Director Paula Otto, who was on hand today to present the first, pro-rated check to Ingram. For the first 10 years, Ingram's beneficiary is guaranteed the payments.

Ingram was accompanied by his adult-age daughters, Tisha Johnson and Jessica Ingram-Coleman, and 3-month-old granddaughter McKenzie Johnson. Ingram's wife, Thelma, works as a teacher's assistant at Campostella Elementary School in Norfolk and could not attend the presentation.

Ingram said he typically stops off each week at the

7-Eleven at South Military Highway and Campostella Road to play. But the evening of the Feb. 20 drawing he got caught in traffic heading home to the Crestwood area from work and took a detour. That's how he ended up at the 7-Eleven at 1928 Battlefield Blvd. N., which earned $10,000 for selling the winning ticket.

The Lawrenceville, Va., native plays the same six numbers each week - the birthdays of his wife, his two daughters and three grandchildren - then lets the computer pick the other combinations. One of the computer's random selections was his winning combination.

"I'll never complain again when traffic is backed up," Ingram said. "I feel like I'm the luckiest man in Chesapeake right now."

Kevin Armstrong, 222-5202,

kevin.armstrong@pilotonline.com