FREE STORM TRACKING APP DOWNLOADED BY SEARCHING WKMG IN YOUR APP STORE. A LOCAL SEX PREDATOR IS FLORIDA'S NEWEST MULTIMILLIONAIRE AFTER HITTING IT BIG WITH A $20 SCRATCH OFF TICKET. LOCAL 6 COVERED THIS LOTTERY WINNER BEFORE. THE MAN'S LIFE HAS CHANGED WHITE A BIT. MIKE DEFOREST IS BREAKING THIS ORIGINAL LOCAL REPORT HE IS LIVE IN MOUNT DORA FOR THE TICKET WAS SOLD IT IS A SUPER MILLIONS TICKET WITH A TOP PRICE OF $3 MILLION THAT IS HOW MUCH MONEY TIMOTHY POOL WON. WAS A CONVICTED SEX PREDATOR. Reporter: FOR 12 YEARS TIMOTHY'S MUCH SHOT HAS APPEARED ON FLORIDA'S SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY BUT NOW THE STATE HAS TAKEN A NEW PHOTO HOLDING UP A $3 MILLION CHECK AFTER HE STRUCK IT RICH ON A FLORIDA LOTTERY SCRATCH OFF TICKET. HE SAID WOULD YOU LOOK AT THIS, IT WAS QUITE A REMARKABLE THING. SNYDER 'S FRIENDS WITH A NEW MULTIMILLIONAIRE AND REFUSES TO BELIEVE ALLEGATIONS POOL IS A CHILD MOLESTER. BACK IN 1999 DEPUTIES ARRESTED A MUCH DIFFERENT TIMOTHY POOL AFTER A FAMILY FRIEND CLAIMED POOL MOLESTED THE BOY SINCE HE WAS NINE YEARS OLD. THE CHILD SAID TIM WOULD SLEEP IN THE SAME BED AND SOMETIMES TIM WOULD WAKE HIM UP TO PERFORM A SEX ACT. MR. POOLE DENIED THE ALLEGATIONS BUT LATER PLEADED GUILTY TO ATTEMPTED SEXUAL BATTERY AND SPENT NEARLY 3 YEARS IN PRISON. THE LOTTERY WINNER HAS NOT RESPONDED TO A VOICEMAIL I LEFT FOR HIM. LAST MONTH IN A LOCAL 6 INVESTIGATION EXPOSING SEX PREDATORS WORKING IN JOBS LIKE PIZZA DRIVERS. HE IS A VERY KIND, GIVING PERSON. I THINK THAT IS WHY HE WON, IT IS CHRISTMAS TIME THE DUDE DESERVED A BREAK. Reporter: WHEN I SPOKE TO HIM LAST MONTH HE TOLD ME QUOTE, IT MAY BE HARD TO BELIEVE THAT SOMETIMES PEOPLE ARE WRONGLY ACCUSED. HIS FRIEND BELIEVES HE'S GOING TO SPEND SOME OF HIS MONEY ON EXPANDING HIS MOM'S TAXICAB BUSINESS. JUST TO CLARIFY IT IS LEGAL FOR SEX OFFENDERS AND PREDATORS TO WIN THE LOTTERY, RIGHT? Reporter: IT IS ABSOLUTELY 
 
 MOUNT DORA, Fla. - 
 
 A convicted sex predator who served 3 years in prison for a crime involving a young child is now a multi-millionaire. Timothy Dale Poole won $3 million on a Florida Lottery scratch-off ticket he purchased at a Mount Dora 7-Eleven store Saturday night. 
 
 [VIDEO: Local 6's original report ] 
 
 "He was flabbergasted. He couldn't believe it," said Floyd Snyder, a friend who was with Poole when he hit the jackpot. "It was quite a remarkable thing. My heart is still beating." 
 
 Poole was among the subjects of a recent Local 6 investigation that examined where convicted sex predators are employed. Poole is driver and dispatcher for Triangle Cab, a Mount Dora taxi company owned by his mother, records show. 
 
 In 1999, Orange County authorities arrested Poole following allegations that he sexually battering a 9-year-old boy. According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Poole was a friend of the victim's family who once lived at their home. The victim also spent some weekends at Poole's home, according to investigators. 
 
 "He said Tim would sleep in the same bed as him at his house" and perform a sex act on the child, the detective wrote in the affidavit. "He said sometimes Tim would wake him up from sleeping to (perform a sex act)." 
 
 Poole denied the allegations, according to the report. 
 
 As part of a plea bargain, Poole pleaded guilty to attempted sexual battery and was sentenced to the 13 months he had already served in jail. The judge also ordered Poole to serve 10 years of sex offender probation and register as a sexual predator. A judge can designate someone as a predator if the defendant used physical violence, preyed on children or had repeat violations. 
 
 In 2003, a judge revoked Poole's probation and sent him to prison for 3 years. According to court records, Poole was kicked out of his mandatory sex offender counseling because he failed to attend 4 group sessions. 
 
 Poole, who has had no other legal troubles since being released from prison in 2006, insists he is innocent. 
 
 "It may be hard for some to believe, but sometimes people are wrongly accused," Poole told Local 6 in November. 
 
 "I've known him for years and I've never seen any inclination of anything like that with him," said Snyder, who believes his friend should enjoy the $3 million lottery jackpot. "He's a very positive person. Very kind. Giving. I think that's why he won. It's Christmastime and the dude deserves a break." 
 
 Poole turned in his winning Super Millions scratch-off ticket at Florida Lottery headquarters in Tallahassee on Monday. Lottery officials said he chose to receive his winnings in a one-time, lump-sum payment of $2,219,807.90. 
 
 Florida law does not allow the lottery to withhold payments from winners based on their criminal records, according to spokeswoman. However, before a winner receives a check, Florida Lottery officials conduct a background check using their Social Security number to ensure they do not owe child support or any outstanding debts to a state agency. 
 
 Poole could not be reached for comment following his lottery win, so it is unclear what he plans to do with his millions. According to Snyder, Poole will be pouring some of that money into his mom's small taxi cab company. 
 
 "He's going to invest in the business," said Snyder. "He's going to expand." ||||| At the Florida Lottery headquarters, Timothy Poole, 43, posed for a photo with an oversized check after claiming his $3 million Scratch-Off prize. But when the image hit the Internet, others recognized the 450-pound man as a registered sexual predator. 
 
 In 2001, the Orange County Sheriff's Office arrested Poole on charges of sexual battery on a victim under 12, records show. Before that, he was arrested in 1991 for stealing almost $20,000 in food stamps from Safeco Inc. of Ocala, where he worked as a guard. 
 
 In all, Poole has been arrested 12 times in Florida on charges ranging from grand theft to forging a check, records show. Poole served three months in prison in 1996 and did a second stint from 2003 to 2006, according to the Florida Department of Corrections. 
 
 This week, Poole claimed his winnings from the Florida Lottery in a one-time lump-sum payment of $2,219,807.90. He played the Super Millions scratch-off game which costs $20 a ticket. The game offers 12 top prizes of $3 million and, with Poole's winner, five remain, spokeswoman Keri Gero said. 
 
 A call to Poole's workplace, Triangle Cabs, was not returned. He did not answer the door of his Mount Dora home where a "No Trespassing" sign was posted on a fence. 
 
 The Florida Lottery took down a photo of Poole from its website after learning from media about his past. 
 
 Florida Lottery Timothy Poole Timothy Poole (Florida Lottery) 
 
 "We chose to not draw additional attention to this particular winner," said Shelly Gerteisen, communications manager for the Florida Lottery. 
 
 This is not the first time a registered sex offender has struck it rich. 
 
 In 2007, a Jensen Beach man arrested for lewd and lascivious or indecent assault upon a child snagged a $14 million lottery jackpot prize. 
 
 This year, Massachusetts legislators are considering a bill to prevent registered sex offenders from collecting lottery earnings after a $10 million winner used the money to buy expensive gifts for a new victim, police said. 
 
 If you win the Mega Millions jackpot, here are some ideas to help you spend it. 
 
 In Florida, there are no laws that prohibit registered sexual predators from playing the numbers and collecting winnings. The Florida Lottery cannot withhold earnings based on someone's criminal record. 
 
 "There are no registration laws that would prevent that, but if that offender was under supervision or on probation there could be additional sanctions imposed by the judge," said Samantha Andrews of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. 
 
 Restrictions depend on the nature of the crime, Andrews said. For example, some sexual predators cannot dress up on Halloween because it attracts attention from children, she said. City or county ordinances may also prevent sexual predators from living within 1,000 feet of a school, day care or park. 
 
 Poole pleaded guilty in 2002 to sexual battery of two boys. 
 
 The incidents occurred in the late 1990s in both Tavares and Orlando, where he sometimes stayed with the boys' parents, according to an Orange County sheriff's report. Poole, then 28, denied the allegations to sheriff's detectives, saying he would never hurt the boys because he felt as if they were his own. 
 
 He was sentenced to five years in prison by Circuit Judge Alan S. Apte and was released from state custody in 2006. 
 
 Reporter Stephen Hudak contributed to this report. echerney@orlandosentinel.com or 352-742-5930
– Lottery officials in Florida pulled a photo of the latest jackpot winner from their website after learning that he is a convicted sex offender. Timothy Poole, 43, served time in prison after being accused of sexually battering a 9-year-old boy in 2001 and has been arrested more than 10 other times for offenses including grand theft and forgery, reports the Orlando Sentinel. He won $3 million on a Super Millions scratch-off ticket and took home a lump sum payment of $2,219,807 this week. "We chose to not draw additional attention to this particular winner" after learning of his past, a lottery spokeswoman says. Poole—who now works as a driver for a taxi firm his mother owns—served 13 months on a plea deal for the 2001 offense and was later sent back to jail for three years after failing to attend mandatory sex offender counseling sessions. He was required to register as a sexual predator but continues to maintain his innocence and has had no legal problems since his release from prison in 2006, reports WKMG, which notes that Florida doesn't allow the lottery to withhold payments from winners based on their criminal records. (In Alaska a few years ago, a convicted sex offender won a lottery that benefited sex-assault victims and suffered a severe beating in the street a few days later.)