Former police chief wins millions in lottery

Nov 12, 2003, 4:16 am (1 comment)

Maryland Lottery

After 20 years of buying lottery tickets with the same pre-selected numbers, Glenn Phenicie's casual decision on Friday to buy a Maryland Lotto ticket with computer-generated random numbers netted him a $3.4 million payoff.

Phenicie, a retired Waynesboro, Pennsylvania police chief, opted to take his winnings in an annuity, which will pay out $95,200 annually after taxes over the next 25 years. He estimates he'll get about $80,000 a year after taxes.

Phenicie and his wife, Valerie, claimed their Lotto prize from Saturday's drawing Monday at the Maryland Lottery Claims Center in Baltimore.

"My God, I'm so happy," said the 54-year-old Phenicie, who bought the winning ticket at Breakaway II, a Hagerstown, Md., bar and restaurant. "I don't need $100,000,000. My wife can retire. We can live pretty good off this."

The Phenicies plan to buy a car to replace Glenn's vehicle, which has more than 200,000 miles, and dventually buy a new house. Phenicie plans to quit his part-time job selling insurance and his wife will resign from her job as a registered nurse at Chambersburg Hospital.

Otherwise, Phenicie said he doesn't think their lifestyle will change much.

"We're not going to go buy a mansion, but we're going to upgrade," said the lifelong Waynesboro resident. "We're going to live just the way we do. We're just not going to have to work."

Phenicie said he learned he had matched all six numbers in the Lotto drawing when he checked the Maryland Lottery Web site Sunday. He called his wife, who confirmed the numbers matched, and then bought several newspapers and checked other Web sites just to be sure.

"It was like, I don't believe this," Phenicie said. "Once I get the money, maybe it'll sink in."

The Phenicies, who have a 26-year-old son, Jason, expect the first installment some time this month.

Phenicie has played both the Maryland and Pennsylvania lotteries for as long as they've existed. He said he plays a variety of games, including daily numbers, Lotto and megalottery games.

"I'm not a person that never played before. I play all the time," said Phenicie, who spends about $40 a week on lottery games. "I don't drink, smoke. I don't hunt, fish. I gamble. I like to casino gamble and I like to play the lottery. That's my thing. That's what I do."

The most Phenicie had ever won previously was $660.

He said he'll keep on playing the lottery because he enjoys it.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing," Phenicie said. "It'll never happen again."

In 2000, Phenicie retired from his job as Waynesboro police chief after 15 years when borough officials there refused to meet with him to discuss a pay raise.

Chambersburg Public Opinion

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What a jerk. He should be arrested by a fellow cop for refusing the lump sum.

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