iStockphoto
On April 26, 50-year-old James Farthing won the the $167.3 million prize after purchasing a a $2 Powerball ticket from Clark’s Pump N Shop in Georgetown, Kentucky. One day after posing with his giant check for the Kentucky Lottery, he was arrested in Pinellas County, Florida for allegedly kicking a cop in the face at a bar.
Bonus: his girlfriend Jacqueline Fightmaster, 42, who also posed in the photo with the giant Powerball check, was also arrested for allegedly trying to fight customers at the same bar.
Mother’s Day came early for Linda and her son Shannon! 💐 They are sharing the record-breaking $167.3 MILLION #Powerball Jackpot win! 🙌 The win was on a $2 Quick Pick ticket! 🤯 Congratulations, Linda and Shannon! 💛 https://t.co/WLtQX8YgQp pic.twitter.com/um5qqmE2Ov
— Kentucky Lottery (@kylottery) April 29, 2025
According to The Smoking Gun, Farthing was arrested on felony and misdemeanor charges as a result of the incident at the TradeWinds Resort in St. Pete Beach.
Police claimed in their report that the Powerball winner punched a male victim in the face during an argument. Then, when Sheriff’s Deputy Nicholas Areostatico tried to break up a fight between Farthing and another bar customer, Farthing kicked him in the face. Areostatico stated in the arrest affidavit that the kick caused him “pain in my face” and resulted in “swelling and redness” under his right eye.
The police report also stated that in a review of the footage from Areostatico’s body camera the deputy “observed the defendant winding up his right leg kicking your affiant in the face in an attempt to injure and or incapacitate myself.” Farthing allegedly refused to turn around and place his hands behind his back when asked to do so and instead “attempted to flee on foot out of the hotel.”
Meanwhile as all of this was happening, police state in their report that Fightmaster “appeared very intoxicated and was yelling, screaming, and making incoherent statements” and was “actively engaging in argument involving other guests and her boyfriend,” trying to “fight the other patrons at the bar.” She was charged with causing a disturbance.
As for James Farthing, winner of the largest lottery prize ever awarded in the state of Kentucky, he was booked into the county jail and charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, a felony, and two misdemeanor counts. He was also now faces a Kentucky felony warrant charging him with a parole violation. His parole had been scheduled to end in late-August 2025. He had previously been convicted of theft, receiving stolen property, escape, drug trafficking, promoting contraband, tampering with physical evidence, and engaging in an organized criminal syndicate.