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California nurse's winning Powerball ticket revealed as prank by son

By Ben Hooper
Powerball lottery tickets with the jackpot at 1.5 billion dollars January 12, 2016. The largest lottery prize in U.S history. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
Powerball lottery tickets with the jackpot at 1.5 billion dollars January 12, 2016. The largest lottery prize in U.S history. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

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POMONA, Calif., Jan. 15 (UPI) -- A California nursing home erupted in celebration when a nurse won the Powerball lottery -- but her win turned out to be a prank perpetrated by her son.

A representative for Shlomo Rechnitz, owner of the Park Avenue Health & Wellness Center in Pomona, said the owner gave employees and residents a total 18,000 Powerball tickets for Wednesday night's $1.6 billion drawing, and the son of a nurse called her at work Wednesday to reveal she had the winning ticket.

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Officials said there were celebration Wednesday at the nursing home and a representative for Rechnitz announced the nurse's win to the media.

However, the joy was short-lived.

"It's a joke. It's a prank...by my brother," the nurse's daughter, Jennifer, told the New York Daily News. "It's embarrassing. This is too much for us."

Rechnitz's representative told KABC-TV he wants to ease the nurse's disappointment from the "despicable" prank by sending her on an all-expenses-paid vacation to the destination of her choice.

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