S. CHARLESTON MAN WINS $50,000 FOR BROTHER IN IRAQ

10/30/2009

It was a brother thing. Michael Cochran-Washington, 21, who left a few weeks ago on a 16-month deployment to Iraq with the 151 MP Battalion, WV Army National Guard, asked his brother in an email to buy him a Powerball ticket. Glad to help out, Dustin bought an “easy pick” ticket at Go Mart in South Charleston for the drawing held Oct. 28. But as an additive, he spent a dollar extra to buy the PowerPlay multiplier option.

Since the PowerPlay multiplier drawn was five, the winning $10,000 prize for matching four of the white numbers along with the Powerball number, jumped to $50,000, according to Lottery Director John Musgrave.

Dustin said he told their father about the win and explained PowerPlay, while his dad was driving. “Ever a lottery skeptic, dad had two words to say – after nearly running off the road – ‘good move.’”

Dustin, 20, said his mother and dad have emailed Michael about his win, but have not gotten a reply. “He’s just going to get such a charge out of this . . . it will really give him something to look forward to.”

He said the reason his brother signed up with the Guard to go to Iraq was to earn money to buy a car and for continuing education in law enforcement. “Michael really wants to be a Secret Service agent, so now he has a head start on that and on finally getting some wheels . . . I was advised to put his money in a CD that can’t be touched by anyone else but him, so my parents and I have done just that."