CATLETTSBURG — The wife of Powerball winner David Edwards was released from the Boyd County Detention Center on Wednesday, under the condition that she pay the $17,000 she owes in child support.
Shawna Edwards, 32, has been in the county jail for nearly a month after she was arrested on a warrant charging her with failing to make child support payments on two children she had previous to her marriage to David Edwards. She also served 10 days in jail for giving police officers a false name when she was arrested.
David Edwards, a former Westwood resident, won $41 million in 2001 in a one-third share of a then record-setting Powerball jackpot. He took a lump-sum payment and ended up with $27 million after taxes.
Just six years later, it is clear the money is gone, with David Edwards’ possessions being sold at auction — along with reports the man had been living in a storage unit and using intravenous drugs — and Shawna being classified as indigent and being provided with a court-appointed lawyer.
“It’s just another tragic chapter in the life of a lottery winner,” said Boyd County Attorney Phillip Hedrick, who prosecuted Shawna Edwards’ case.
Hedrick said the woman was keeping up with her payments “until they (the Edwardses) went under.”
In February, Shawna Edwards signed a voluntary waiver of extradition in Orange County, Fla., where she was apparently living at a Super 8 Motel, to face her criminal charges in Kentucky.
She was released from the county jail, but after failing to appear at two consecutive court hearings in May, a warrant was issued for her arrest.
Shawna Edwards was released Wednesday on a $7,500 unsecured bond.
Hedrick said she owns a house in Ashland she bought for her mother, and could possibly pay off the $17,000 she owes through a home equity loan.
“If she could have made that happen in prison, she would have, but she had been in there for a month and nothing had been done,” Hedrick said. “We agreed to let her out so she could make the arrangements to pay this off.”
If Shawna Edwards pays off the delinquent amount, the felony charge will be dropped.
Boyd Circuit Judge Marc I. Rosen set several conditions on Shawna Edwards’ release, saying the defendant cannot leave the state, must live at the home she bought in Ashland, must make a court appearance in 30 days and must show at that hearing that she is making progress toward paying off her arrearage.
Shawna Edwards was known as Shawna Maddux when David Edwards won his share of the Powerball jackpot in August 2001.
The couple married shortly thereafter and moved into a $1.2 million home in the Ballen Isles community in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
The couple filed for divorce in 2003, but apparently reconciled.
Shawna Edwards was arrested for domestic battery in 2004 after her husband told authorities she had tried to stab him with a crack pipe.
Both Shawna and David were arrested in 2005 when police found cocaine and heroin in their bedroom.
David Edwards pleaded guilty to a drug paraphernalia possession charge and the cocaine charge was dropped. A status hearing on the heroin charge is scheduled for Tuesday in Palm Beach.
Their Florida home was foreclosed upon and sold at auction after the two failed to pay homeowners’ association dues.
Saturday, many of David Edwards’ strange and exotic possessions were sold at auction after he had failed to pay rent on the storage unit in Florida that housed the items, and were Edwards himself was allegedly living for a time.
Hedrick said the meteoric rise and fall of David and Shawna Edwards was startling.
“I’m not defending her, but it is a tragic situation with these lottery winners,” Hedrick said.
BEN FIELDS can be reached at bfields@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2651.
Local News
Powerball wife out of jail
Edwards indigent, owes $17,000 in child support
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