There's A $167.3 Million Lottery Winner in Kentucky Who Has Been Locked Up in 25 Different Prisons And Has At Least 42 Mugshots

TSG – On April 28, Farthing claimed a $167.3 million jackpot, the largest in Kentucky Lottery history. He had purchased the winning $2 ticket at a convenience store in Georgetown, a city where he shares an address with Linda Grizzle, his 77-year-old mother.

Flanked by Grizzle and his girlfriend, a beaming Farthing was presented with an oversize check by lottery officials who announced that mother and son would be splitting the nine-figure windfall. Farthing, 50, was not quoted in a Kentucky Lottery press release, which only identified him by his middle (Shannon) and last names.

I might need to start playing the lottery. Just a $2 ticket every morning before work. It seems like a nice way to start every day. Probably helps get you out of bed in the morning. Because no matter how bad things are going, how much you're dreading work, how much you're dreading life, there's always the slight chance that at the end of the day when those numbers are drawn, everything will change the blink of an eye and all of your problems will be solved. Even if you never win a dime, you'll always have that little bit of hope to hold onto that things might instantly get better. 

Call 1-800-GAMBLER if you have a problem. 

This James Farthing guy though... I'm really not sure what's harder to do. Win $167.3 million on a $2 ticket, or to manage to get yourself locked up in 25 different correctional facilities in 50 years of life and not be incarcerated forever. Maybe that's more common than I realize, but it's crazy to me how that's even possible. At a certain point, if you're that bad at following the law, I'd think a judge would eventually just say enough is enough. Clearly you can't handle being a free man. You're a proven menace to society. Why should they keep giving you chances to try again? I'm all for second, third, fourth, and tenth chances. But maybe it wouldn't be the worst idea to institute some sort of 25 strike policy. Once you've seen in the inside of a cell at 25 different facilities... when your rap sheet includes all of this...

Farthing has been categorized as a “persistent felony offender” by Kentucky law enforcement officials. He has a 16-page rap sheet and a dizzying criminal record that spans 35 years and includes convictions in at least nine counties and from every corner of Kentucky’s penal code.

According to court records, Farthing strangled a girlfriend; sold cocaine to an undercover police informant; escaped from a prison work detail; bribed a corrections officer to deliver Xanax and Oxycodone into a state facility; possessed stolen firearms; and even involved his mother in a marijuana smuggling plot for which they were both indicted.

Farthing has been locked up in at least 25 different correctional institutions, where he has spent, in aggregate, nearly 30 years in custody. During that time, Farthing continued to commit crimes while incarcerated and compiled a prison disciplinary record rife with assaults, narcotics possession, loansharking, gambling, drug smuggling, and positive tests for alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, and depressants. He was also cited for an improper relationship with a female canteen staffer, charging inmates for the return of their stolen items, and“sending large amounts of money to people Internal Affairs cannot connect to him.”

That's it for you. No more freedom. But thankfully, in James Farthing's case, now that he has $100 million in the bank I'm sure his days of crime are over. If there's one thing I know about coming into an unfathomable about of money, it's that it really makes you settle down and begin making responsible decisions. Except for right after he won the lottery when he immediately violated his parole by going on vacation to a Florida resort, where he promptly punched another guest in the face, proceeded to kick the responding officer in the face, then attempted to flea the scene on foot. 

A day into his recent short-lived Florida vacation, Farthing allegedly punched a guest in the face during an 11 PM argument at the TradeWinds Resort in St. Pete Beach. When a cop sought to break up the fight, Farthing kicked him in the face “in an attempt to injure and or incapacitate myself,” according to an arrest affidavitsworn by the officer.

Farthing then refused to place his hands behind his back and “attempted to flee on foot out of the hotel,” reported Deputy Nicholas Areostatico, who said the kick left him with “pain in my face” and “swelling and redness” under his right eye.

Farthing was arrested and booked into the Pinellas County jail for battery on a law enforcement officer, a felony, and misdemeanor counts of resisting police and battery. In addition to the Florida charges, a fugitive warrant was lodged against Farthing for, once again, violating his Kentucky parole (this time for not securing travel permission).

But every career criminal should get one fuck up after winning hundreds of millions of dollars on dumb luck. I will say, I'm impressed with James' wide array of mugshots. I appreciate his transformation from a young Logic, to an actually decently handsome looking adult, to Steven Avery from Making a Murder, to his most recent form of West Coast Choppers/Sons of Anarchy member. 

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Now from his most recent incident at the resort in Florida, he's out on a $11,000 bond, is facing 5 years in prison. His arraignment July 14th. Normally, I'd think he would be likely to serve a good chunk of that time, as I wouldn't think they'd take a 5000x repeat offender kicking a police officer in the face and fleeing the scene lightly. But considering his history, I'm guessing he'll get a stern slap on the wrist, catch a sentence of 6 months, and be out in half the time on good behavior so he can quickly take another vacation to Florida and strangle a handful of Tampa strippers. 

At this point, if I'm James, I'm looking for a fresh start. I wouldn't even give myself a chance to spend 5 extremely wealthy years behind bars with an entire prison's worth of people who are out to extort me. Before my arraignment, I'm getting my ass to some non-extradition country out in Asia. Somewhere they'll never find me like Cambodia or Vietnam where I can really just disappear and live comfortably on a beach with my millions of dollars. Maybe a change of scenery would do James Farthing some good. Surely he'll have better luck keeping his nose clean amongst the locals in Ho Chi Minh. 

James Farthing. All-time loose cannon. Great things always happen to the worst people.