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Irvine House raffle: All in the family
August 19th, 2008, 12:00 pm · 40 Comments · posted by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer
The winner of the home raffled off by the Irvine Public Schools Foundation is the sister of the woman who came up with the idea of the house raffle in the first place.
Irvine reporter Cathy Tran tells us that raffle winner Donna Palella Johnston (who swooned recently upon winning the grand prize: a $600,000 home in Irvine, or the same in cash), is the sister of Loucinda Carlton, who spear-headed the raffle and chairs the fundraiser each year, organizing “the army of volunteers” that helps make it possible, the foundation’s publicist said.
Does The Watchdog see your eyebrows rising?
Relax, says foundation executive assistant Cheryl Van Camp. Foundation folks are constantly nagging their friends and relatives to buy raffle tickets - if they didn’t, the foundation would sell far fewer - so it’s not such a crazy coincidence that a relative won.
Offical rules state that the winner can’t be in the immediate household of anyone on the foundation’s board or staff, etc. etc.
And despite a rumor that Loucinda pulled her sister’s ticket out of the barrel, it was pulled by the head of California Pacific Homes, and then handed to Irvine Police Chief David L. Maggard Jr., for safe keeping. So talk to the chief if you have a problem.
“Yes, Loucinda is my sister!” winner Donna wrote to reporter Tran in an email. “I thought we talked about that the first day because we were all amazed that it could happen to me. When she heard my name she was in such shock and almost fell off the stage.”
See the family resemblance? Stunned winner Donna is in the large photo above; sister Loucinda pulls a winner from the barrell of tickets in the smaller picture below it.
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Hey, to all of you complaining…you should have bought a ticket! I would have if I’d known it was going on. It sure pays to support your family’s ventures!!!
O.K.like that wasn’t a set up.Just another realestate scam…
it should be re raffled, too fishy if you ask me
Nice picture.
Can anyone say sleight of hand…
It wouldn’t have done a bit of good to buy a raffle ticket for a rigged drawing. The sister of the founder just happened to win? Please. Investigate.
maybe all the tickets had her name on it so when it was pulled no matter what tickect you pulled it was her name on it.
it was rigged i bet
Aren’t family members not supposed to participate in raffles? Isn’t it like that everywhere else?
Congratulations Donna! Enjoy your new home, you won it fair and square
VERY leading headline…..not fair to Donna the winner or her sister.
Congratulations on winning the house!!! IPSF had done so much to help Irvine schools FULLY educate its students. That , the teachers, principals and most importantly, the parent involvement, are the reasons Irvine schools are out perfroming most of the rest of the schools in the state.
First of all, I think you mean “misleading headline”, and second, you are wrong. A misleading headline is one in which the title hints or suggest at something, in an attempt to lead the reader into thinking one thing, that turns out not to be true. For example:
“Whitehouse seeking special counsel to investigate Gonzales”
So, it turns out that Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse is one among a group of senators calling for a special counsel.
The title of our article in question is not misleading. The Irvine House Raffle was, in fact, all in the family, was it not? One sister created the raffle, the other sister won it. Seems pretty straight forward.
That picture of Loucinda drawing prizewinners out of the hopper, then her sister winning the grand prize, certainly smells fishy to me…
Most raffles, prize giveaways, etc. specify that you cannot be related to anyone that has anything to do with the giveaway. While I’m not crying conspiracy, it just doesn’t seem right that relatives of those that have anything to do with the raffle are allowed to enter, even as paying customers.
Yeah: “One sister created the raffle, the other sister won it. Seems pretty straight forward”.
Tell that to those that purchaed the tickets!
OMG!!!!! This is not right!!! Both my wife and I work 2 jobs and 7 days a week each, just to survive. I can’t believe this is just another scam, frauding people from their hard earn money and taking all the dreams away of a better life.
This is my 2nd and last year I will buy another ticket from any raffle ticket. Its tainted…
OC Watchdog, help us… How and where can we file a complaint to the district attorney? This is not right.
Why didn’t they announce the winner when the raffle ticket was pulled out of the barrel ? . What’s up with this handing it to the sheriff for safekeeping? Sounds strange to me. Could this be the good ole boy, good ole girl network at work. I say bring in the Feds to investigate. For a prize this big, it would not surprise me if there was some kind of sharing the prize through conspiracy.
This is an example of Magician School 101. There is a reason why family members are not allowed to participate in a raffle such as this.
If this were above board why didn’t Loucinda Carlton “swoon” about her sisteer winning immediately upon the announcement? Could it be she knew it was wrong (or a scam)?
Are the people who are pro-Donna cousins, uncles, nieces? Or are they just ignorant?
Could be coincidence, but I agree with other commentors that family members should be excluded. Especially when you are talking about a half a million dollar + house!
I don’t care who ‘drew’ and ‘read’ the winner. There are many opportunities for fraud. First, there should be an audit to check the number of entries in the barrel for all entrants related to the ‘leader’ and ensure there was proof of payment for every entry. We are not talking about a raffle for a dinner for two.
I’ve bought a ticket for the past four years and I’m happy to hear that this year’s winner is actually from Irvine. Congratulations to Donna and to Loucinda for coming up with such a great fundraising idea that has raised millions for our schools and helped give our kids a great education — without relying on state funding!
Didn’t any of you consipiracy theorists read the article? In the article it very clearly states:
“And despite a rumor that Loucinda pulled her sister’s ticket out of the barrel, it was pulled by the head of California Pacific Homes, and then handed to Irvine Police Chief David L. Maggard Jr., for safe keeping. So talk to the chief if you have a problem.”
The sister pulled tickets for the other remaining prizes. Geez! People are always looking for something to complain about.
For anyone interested, you can monitor OC records and see if anyone gets added to the trust deed in the future, after everything calms down.
I agree with “On my own two feet”, did any of you read the article? Her sister did not pick the ticket, it was the Pres of CA Pacific Homes!
Don’t be bitter that you didn’t win such a great prize. This raffle goes to a great cause and to a person that one could really use this home!
It’s a shame when people cannot be happy for others and have to resort to such mean and accusatory behavior.
Everyone of you that doubts this contest’s validity should be ashamed. This is a exciting time for Donna and it should not be ruined by sour pessimists.
I appreciate OC Watchdog pointing this out, but why is this buried deep inside the OC Register website. No story on the home page and not even a link to the story on the Irvine News page. Edfitor, you need to print this story on the front page of the paper and have a direct story link on the website home page.
I was there with my family the day of the raffle and we all left saying,
“Was that for real?” We were sitting about 10 feet away from Donna when
she won. We all made three observations that didn’t look to kosher to
all of us. When this story came out today we were weren’t that shocked.
#1
The ticket was drawn and put into a manila envelope. Then it was held
for about 10 minutes. Then they drew her name from it. They could have
easily had two tickets in there and pulled the one they wanted. For
everyone who bought these tickets they should have had a seperate barrel
and drawn it only for the house and read it right then and there in
front of everyone. We overheard a few people complaining about the
envelope deal.
#2
Out of the 50 or so prizes given out only two people were present. (That
I saw) Donna was one.
#3
Right after they called her name, a woman sitting next to her ran to the
guy who was selling drinks for the event and was loudly whispering
“Donna won. Donna got it!”
You indicate in one place that the head of Pacific Homes drew the winning name, and then just below that you publish a picture of Loucinda pulling the ticket. What’s up with that?? Why the double speak?
Roachlegs - love that by the way - there were many different prizes in the raffle, and Van Camp said that different people from the community picked the tickets out for different prizes. So yes, Loucinda is pictured picking a winner - but not the home winner.
“OC Watchdog: Your Tax Dollars at Work” is the headline it says at the top. Are we actually paying for this crap? It’s obvious that someone made her pose for that picture, then you use it against her. This is comical. Why is this even on the Watchdog site. Are you accusing the police chief and president of Pacific Homes of fraud?
It’s like watching a bunch of bullies pick on the smallest kid in school. Go complain to them if you want to pick on someone.
Someone close down this watchdog site and give me my money back if this is the kind of crap they post. The DA and police force does enough investigating for the country. I don’t want to pay for both.
*do (Sorry, I am tired)
ocman,” I can’t believe this is just another scam, frauding people from their hard earn money and taking all the dreams away of a better life.” Is that a joke? Maybe not spending $200 on a raffel ticket with the odds of winning roughly 1/10,000 would be a good start. I thought people were entering the raffel to support the learning of children. Stupid me.
And anthony, what Magic School teaches you how to convince the police chief and president of a multi million dollar company to commit fraud for you. Let me know I’d like to join.
*county, ha.
We bought 2 tickets, hoping to have more chances at winning. I guess this was fraudulent so the chances weren’t real. Aren’t relatives of raffle organizers supposed to stay out of them? I want my $ 400.00 back. Will anybody investigate. What about the other prizes?
By the way, it was the first time I bought raffle tickets for this cause, and it will be the LAST. And by the looks of it, and the response of many, it is obvious that these people lost a whole bunch of paying donors. GOOD JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[b] Congratulations [/b]
Best Wishes in your this great award.
The drawing was in public viewing, I believe, and a big turning barrel. Was it spun around and mixed all together in public view?
Maybe next year have a kid pull the name since the money is for the Irvine Public Schools.
OC Watchdog, can you find out if she took the money or the cash? According to the rules, she had 2 weeks to decide, and it’s now been over 2 weeks. This was always announced in prior years.
I think it’s very odd that all the massive publicity of her suddenly stopped after you revealed that she is the sister of the creator of the raffle. If she took the cash, I wonder how much will find its way into her sister’s pocket.
Helloooooo…. we’ve been cheated. Why did they place the ticket into a envelope for ten min before announcing the winner??? They should have called out the winners name right out of the barrel…. i’m asking for an investigation….
peopl are so untrusting. It’s really a sad commentary on us as a nation. Do you really think anyone would try to do something that illegal y=that would be that obvious. just say congrats and try your luck next time the opportunity arises. It just goes to show you truth is strangere than fiction
dear please help me with for house raffle thank.
To all the idiots that keep this annual scam alive by buying their rigged tickets,thank you. This is the greatest ripoff in the name of ” helping the schools children”,how sweet! .Take your money and buy lottery tickets. At least with that you have a chance of winning and you won’t have to wait while they postpone the drawing date to get some more suckers to buy their tickets. Don’t forget you don’t have to be present to win,they’ll give you a phone call, sure they will. Don’t expect them to post the winners anywhere,that would make it too transparent! Go back to your bake sales.
At least then I have something to show for my money.. On second thought,keep the scam going. There’s a sucker born every minute.