$338 Million Powerball Winner Arrested and Charged with Child Sexual Assault: Prosecutor
A New Jersey man who won a $338-million Powerball jackpot in 2013 has been arrested and charged with child sexual assault, PEOPLE confirms.
Pedro Quezada, 49, is accused of sexually assaulting a girl over the course of three years, starting when she was 11 years old until she was 14, according to Passaic County, New Jersey, prosecutor, Camelia Valdes.
Quezada, of Wayne, New Jersey, was arrested on Tuesday, according to Passaic County Jail records. He was charged with first-degree aggravated sexual assault, two counts of second-degree sexual assault and one count of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, Valdes said in a news release.
The assaults allegedly took place in Passaic, where Quezada lived at the time, according to authorities, who note that “it appears there are no other victims.”
Further details about what led to Quezada’s arrest were not immediately available. On Wednesday, a judge ordered him held without bail, according to The Record, and he remains held in the Passaic County Jail.
“He has money,” his attorney, Steve Wukovits, told The Record. “That’s why he’s being targeted in this case.”
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Quezada is scheduled to appear in court for a detention hearing on Monday. His attorney did not immediately return calls for comment and he has not yet entered a plea.
He won one of the biggest jackpots in New Jersey history and took his winnings in a lump-sum payout that totaled $152 million after taxes, NJ.com reports.
At the time, Quezada told reporters how he bought the winning ticket during a daily walk to a local liquor store.
When he won, he reportedly predicted, “My life will change because of it — so much money. But it will not change my heart.”
