MONROEVILLE, Pa. (WTAE) – A Pennsylvania woman is racing against time.
Mildred Simoneriluto bought a winning lottery ticket last spring worth $2.5 million, but she misplaced it and time is now running out for her to claim her prize.
Last May, Simoneriluto walked into the Murrysville Shop n’ Save to purchase a lottery ticket.
Simoneriluto says she placed the ticket in her jacket.
“I remember saying, ‘If I put it here, I won’t forget it,‘” Simoneriluto recalled.
So, that’s exactly what she did.
A few days later, to her amazement, she found out she was holding the winning ticket.
“I realized that it won. It hit,” Simoneriluto remembered.
When she looked to retrieve the ticket from the jacket, it was gone.
It was among the clothing she donated to Vietnam Veterans of America the previous week.
Those clothing items were picked up by a company called Pickup Please.
“I was stupefied. There’s no words for it. It was beyond expression,” Simoneriluto said. “How can I get it back?”
Simoneriluto says she was told clothing donations are sent across the country and around the world.
Authorities with the lottery say she must have the winning ticket.
“I went back to Shop n’ Save maybe a hundred times and they said there’s nothing they could do,” Simoneriluto said.
Somewhere in the world, there’s a Pennsylvania Cash 5 lottery ticket with the numbers 14, 22, 33, 35 and 38 worth $2.5 million.
It expires May 8, but if it is claimed, it might not be Simoneriluto who cashes it in.
“What else can I do? Cry out loud and hope that something will happen positive on my end,” Simoneriluto said.
She is hoping for the best, but knows the odds are long for her to get her winning ticket back.
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