Lottery win doesn't change a troubled life

AXTON, Va. — To those who rushed to buy a ticket for the $110 million Powerball lottery, consider the case of Jody Lee Taylor.

In the nearly 11 years since Taylor won $4.3 million in the Virginia Lottery, he lost his way and then his family.

Taylor, 34, now has lost his freedom, locked up in the Henry County jail and charged with trying to kill a police officer after sheriff's deputies dragged him — naked — from his pickup in such a rage that he had to be restrained.

His father, Alvin Taylor, sitting on his porch a few miles from the North Carolina border, wishes his son never had walked into Byrd's Store and bought the Virginia Lottery "EZ Pick" ticket.

"Out of 10,000 people, there might be one who could handle the money," Taylor said, his arms reddened from helping a neighbor dig a grave. "The rest, it would push them over the edge."

Americans spent $42.4 billion on lottery tickets in 2002, according to an industry group. Many people play in hopes that a windfall will change their lives — most assume for the better.

But Jody Taylor's friends and family say it doesn't always work out that way. His is a cautionary tale of money and freedom and bad choices, they say.

Henry County Sheriff Frank Cassell would not allow a reporter into the jail to interview Taylor. Taylor's attorney, R. Reid Young III, did not return several calls. But those who know Jody Taylor well — his family, his friends and sheriff's deputies from two counties — say he was a hell-raiser well before he became a rich man. He had a weakness for drink and drugs, they say. And when he was lit, he often took his rage out on vehicles and his now-estranged wife, Jennifer.

By the time Taylor walked into Byrd's Store and bought his ticket, he already had been convicted of beating up Jennifer, reckless driving and driving while intoxicated. A week before he won the lottery, a probation officer noted that he had lost his job and owed $335 in court fees, according to Henry County Circuit Court documents.

Taylor's numbers came in the day after Christmas in 1992. He chose his winnings to be distributed in 20 annual payments of $220,000, lottery officials said. At 24, one of the richest men in one of the state's poorest areas, wild Jody Taylor became even wilder.

"He never had nothing, he hadn't aspired to anything and then he had it all at once," Jennifer Taylor said. "It was overwhelming."

Taylor's friends say his streak of generosity grew even stronger after he hit it big. He has donated truckloads of firewood to the volunteer fire department and has helped other groups such as the rescue squad. Friends have received extravagant gifts.

He was sort of a Robin Hood with a backhoe, always willing to help someone dig out a swimming pool or a driveway and never charging a dime. When he built a large house on nearby land, Taylor threw a Gatsby-esque Fourth of July party complete with fireworks.

But those same friends say that the instant cash slowed Taylor's maturation.

"We were drinking buddies, dope buddies, whatever," said Randall Shively, a large man who grew up with Taylor. "Then," he said, motioning to his wife, "I straightened up."

But Taylor didn't, he said.

"He had all the time in the world, all the money in the world," Shively said.

Others began clinging to Taylor after he struck it rich, taking advantage of his natural generosity and gregariousness, friends said.

Many thought Taylor hit bottom Feb. 9, 1995, when he set fire to the Ford Thunderbird he had given Jennifer and then fired 15 bullets from a .45-caliber pistol into the yellow linoleum floor of their double-wide mobile home. According to Pittsylvania County Circuit Court documents, police recovered marijuana from Taylor, along with four other weapons.

He was sentenced to one year in jail after being convicted of arson, shooting at an occupied dwelling and possession of marijuana. The court also ordered the Virginia Lottery to take $17,000 of Taylor's winnings to reimburse the insurance company for Jennifer Taylor's Thunderbird.

Friends and family said Taylor calmed a bit when released from jail. He started a business, T-N-T Excavating and Hauling, and began planning for a new house and farm. He and Jennifer had a son.

But Taylor's wild ways soon began anew. "People took advantage of him. But you have to let them take advantage," his wife said.

"He chose drugs over his family," she said, crying in the driveway of her mother's house. "The day I left, I knew there was nothing else I could do."

That was a year ago. Since then, friends and family say, Taylor's problems have worsened.

Early on June 14, Jody Taylor was driving his new Ford F-250 pickup on the wrong side of Route 58 with his lights off, according to Capt. Kimmy Nester of the Henry County Sheriff's Office.

He led a sheriff's deputy on a chase that ended in a muddy field, where the police cruiser got stuck, Nester said. The deputy got out, and Taylor allegedly tried to run him over — twice, Nester said.

When Taylor's pickup got stuck, the deputy smashed the window with a rock and dragged a raving Taylor out of his truck, police said.

He was not wearing a stitch of clothing, police said, and there was a shotgun inside his truck. Taylor now resides in Henry County jail, without bail, awaiting a court appearance Aug. 7.

Shively said folks have been talking. "The dopeheads think it's funny," he said. "But it might be a blessing in disguise. He needs some help."

To Sheriff Cassell, there is also a deeper lesson to be found.

"This man would have been better off without the money, frankly," Cassell said.

"It certainly didn't help him, I can tell you that."